Immigration Reform Must Include Solutions for Broken Detention System
Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center joined with immigrant rights leaders across the country on June 1 to launch the Reform Immigration for America campaign. NIJC calls on President Obama and Congress to end the human rights and due process abuses in U.S. immigrant detention centers. Any comprehensive immigration reform must include two critical components: first, reform of our immigrant detention system, including elimination of unnecessary detention; second, access to legal counsel and health care for those who are detained.
IMMIGRATION REFORM MUST INCLUDE SOLUTIONS
FOR BROKEN DETENTION SYSTEM
Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center Calls on Congress
to Restore Due Process and Human Rights Protections for Immigrant Detainees
Statement of
Mary Meg McCarthy, Executive Director
Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center
CHICAGO (June 1, 2009) - As we gather today to launch the Reform Immigration for America Campaign, Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center calls on the President and Congress to end the human rights and due process abuses in this country's immigrant detention centers. Any comprehensive immigration reform must include two critical components: first, reform of our immigrant detention system, including elimination of unnecessary detention and, second, access to legal counsel and health care for those who are detained. The National Immigrant Justice Center is leading the effort to prevent arbitrary detention and to advocate for the creation of legally binding detention standards. Only then will the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement be accountable for the treatment of individuals in its care.
The U.S. detains more than 400,000 immigrant men, women, and children each year in a failed patchwork system of more than 500 detention centers and county jails. In fact, one of those county jails is just 65 miles from Chicago. Most of the individuals who are detained have no criminal history, and came to the United States with dreams of a better life. Instead, they are detained. Many of these individuals - mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers - languish in detention for weeks, months, or even years. For them, access to legal counsel (and decent health care) is the exception, not the rule.
Today's immigrant detention system violates human rights and betrays American ideals of fairness and justice. During the past year, the media, U.S. government agencies, and NGOs have documented extensive human rights violations within our immigrant detention system - a system within our own borders. The human costs of this detention system are shameful: nearly 90 people have died in ICE custody since 2003. And the financial costs of this system that separates families and incarcerates refugees and victims of human trafficking or domestic violence are staggering.
The Obama administration has expressed its intent to restore the U.S. reputation as a champion of human rights. That work must begin at home, too. Our leaders in Washington must address the human rights and due process violations confronting innocent people who are detained in communities here and throughout the country. Comprehensive immigration reform must fix our country's broken immigrant detention system and restore American ideals of fairness and justice for all.
Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center provides direct legal services to and advocates for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers through policy reform, impact litigation, and public education.