The day started with a New York Times story about yet another death in ICE detention and how the U.S. government failed to report the 2005 death for years because the man had became lost in the system. By the end of the day, in other news, more than 13 people were reported dead after a shooting at an immigrant services organization in New York.
The difficulty of confirming the very existence of the dead man, Ahmad Tanveer, 43, a Pakistani New Yorker, shows how death can fall between the cracks in immigration detention, the rapidly growing patchwork of more than 500 county jails, profit-making prisons and federal detention centers where half a million noncitizens were held during the last year while the government tried to deport them.
The case underscores the secrecy and lack of legal accountability that continue to shield the system from independent oversight, despite years of escalating Congressional inquiries and new efforts by Obama administration appointees to promote transparency.
The number of deaths in immigrant detention since 2003 now has reached 90.
In a completely unrelated news story, details are still coming about what happened today at the American Civics Association in Binghamton, New York. The organization reportedly provides important legal and social services to immigrants and refugees. The story hit particularly close to home for NIJC staff, who do similar work in Chicago. NIJC continues to follow the story and sends condolences to the people, families, and communities affected by this tragedy.