News and views on immigration law and policy.
Detention Congress Must Act to Stop Deaths in Immigrant Detention | Congress Must Act to Stop Deaths in Immigrant Detention |
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| Thursday, 08 May 2008 | |
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U.S. Representative Zoe Lofgren has introduced legislation to ensure timely and more comprehensive medical and mental health care for non-citizens held in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security.
The U.S. government's inhumane treatment of detained immigrants was brought into stark relief this week when The New York Times reported that 71 foreigners have died in federal immigrant detention facilities since 2004. A new bill before Congress would guarantee detained immigrants access to health care and would require the Department of Homeland Security to report the deaths of immigrants in its custody.
The May 5, 2008, New York Times article described the failure of the federal government to treat detained immigrants humanely, to provide adequate health care on a daily basis, and to respond to emergencies. Through a Freedom of Information Act request, the newspaper obtained a list from the Department of Homeland Security of 66 people who have died in immigrant detention since 2004. By May 7, newspaper reported the number of deaths had increased to 71.
The New York Times article featured Boubacar Bah, a 52-year-old tailor from Guinea, who died after suffering a skull fracture and multiple brain hemorrhages. Equally alarming are the cases of a detained immigrant, Francisco Castaneda, who died of cancer at age 36 after immigration authorities ignored his pleas for medical care and refused to conduct biopsies on lesions, and Victoria Arellano, who died shackled to a hospital bed after spending weeks in deteriorating health because her AIDS treatment had lapsed.
On May 1, 2008, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the chair of the Immigration Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, introduced legislation to ensure timely and more comprehensive medical and mental health care for non-citizens held in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security. The Detainee Basic Medical Care Act of 2008, H.R.5950, addresses persistent problems in the provision of health care to detainees - including failure to screen for tuberculosis and other public health threats, denial of tests and treatment for cancer, and refusal to issue prescribed medications - that have been documented by detainees and legal aid providers like the National Immigrant Justice Center. Similar concerns were reported by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, which issued a highly critical report in early 2007.
The National Immigrant Justice Center, along with partner organizations, continues to work to address these human rights abuses through administrative and legislative advocacy and federal litigation, as well as through our work with international entities such as the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, which toured U.S. detention centers in 2007, and the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which intends to tour immigration jails in the fall of 2008.
Sources: New York Times article on deaths in detention, May 5, 2008
New York Times editorial on deaths in detention, May 6, 2008
New York Times resource page on deaths in detention, May 6, 2008
Text of H.R.5950, Rep. Lofgren's "Detainee Basic Medical Care Act of 2008"
2008 Report of the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants
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