U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has ended its contract with the detention facility where a Chinese immigrant died last year.

NIJC submitted the following letter to the editor to The New York Times, which was the first to publish the news, pointing out that ending one detention facility contract is not enough. Full humane detention reform is necessary to save lives and preserve our country's ideals of justice and human rights.

The federal investigation into the death of Hiu Lui Ng, a Chinese man who died in federal immigration custody at the Wyatt Detention Facility, reflects a far more pervasive problem within the U.S. immigration detention system.  A recent report by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement describes a system in which lack of oversight, combined with negligence and hostility toward non-citizens, lead to deadly consequences.  This report echoes the stories of the more than 80 other immigrants whose deaths have been documented by The New York Times and other newspapers in the last year.  Immigrant advocates have long recognized that the system is dysfunctional and dangerous; the National Immigrant Justice Center routinely responds to detainee complaints of lack of access to healthcare.

 

While it is clear that the Wyatt Detention Facility should no longer house immigrants, cancelling the contract of this facility alone will not prevent future deaths. By now it is clear that the failures of the current immigration detention system are widespread and not merely isolated incidents.  Congress and the Obama administration must make reform of this broken detention system a priority, before another life is lost.

 

Sincerely,

Mary Meg McCarthy
Executive Director
Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center