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The Detention Watch Network Applauds Recent Exposés of Medical Conditions in
Immigration Detention and Urges the U.S. Government to Improve its Treatment
of Immigrants.
May 15, 2008 (Washington, DC) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Angela Smith-Dieng, 202-393-1044 ext 241;
asmith-dieng@detentionwatchnetwork.org
520-240-3726; ablack@detentionwatchnetwork.org
The Detention Watch Network (DWN) applauds the Washington Post for its
four-day exposé of the negligent health care in immigration detention
centers and the New York Times for its in-depth investigation of deaths in
detention. The articles provide detailed accounts of the federal
governments failure to provide adequate physical and mental health care, to
respond to medical emergencies and to treat detainees with dignity. They
also reveal the governments awareness of medical negligence, the risks it
poses for detainees and the liability such actions create for taxpayers.
Despite this awareness, the articles demonstrate Immigration and Customs
Enforcements (ICE) failure to take adequate measures to improve medical
care, and insistence that levels of care are appropriate.
These accounts closely echo the experience of DWN members across the
country in their work with immigrants in detention, says Andrea Black,
Network Coordinator. In addition to the tragic and needless deaths that
have been reported, we have seen that immigrants in detention all too often
receive poor and/or delayed medical care accompanied by an attitude of
indifference and dehumanization.
The sub-standard medical treatment of immigration detainees is just one
example of the impact of detention on immigrants and their families. The
United States detains over 320,000 people per year in immigration detention,
including thousands of asylum seekers. Detained immigrants are often held
in remote locations far from their families and have no right to government
appointed counsel. In the past two years, the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) has increased detention of vulnerable immigrants. The agency
now detains entire families, holding parents with young children, nursing
mothers, and pregnant women in jail-like conditions. Detainees languish in
a system that lacks enforceable standards of care and any independent
oversight.
Yet many of these individuals do not have to be in detention. There are
humane and cost effective community-based alternatives to detention, yet DHS
fails to widely utilize them. Immigrants should be held in detention
facilities only as a last resort and prison facilities and jails should
never be used for this purpose. Immigrants, especially vulnerable
individuals such as those with severe medical conditions, should be released
to the community or into community-based alternatives programs which have
proven effective in ensuring that individuals comply with the judicial
process in a more cost-effective way while maintaining our nations
commitment to humane and fair treatment.
Denial of care and an unwillingness to use community-based alternatives to
detention are indicators of a flawed system that is contrary not only to
American values and international human rights standards, but to the
Constitution itself, said Michelle Brané of Womens Commission for Refugee
Women and Children and DWN Steering Committee member. No human being
should be treated this way in the United States.
The Washington Post investigation highlights the imperative need for
Congressionally-mandated detention standards that cover all aspects of
immigrants treatment, including medical and mental health care. DWN members
believe that, when used, the conditions of detention should be humane and
respectful not punitive. We also strongly recommend the creation of an
independent oversight mechanism to ensure ICE lives up to these standards.
Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a coalition of community, faith-based,
immigrant and human rights service and advocacy organizations and concerned
individuals working to reform the immigration detention and deportation
system so that all who come to our shores receive fair and humane treatment.
