Following reports in The New York Times that U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials hid evidence of medical neglect that led to detainee deaths in the immigration detention system, Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center calls on President Obama and Congress to take immediate, concrete steps to improve transparency and ensure humane conditions within the detention system.

Latest Detention Reform Is a Significant Step toward Restoring Human Rights for Immigrants; Further Changes Needed

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued new policy guidelines today favoring the release of detained asylum seekers who show a credible fear of persecution and do not pose a danger to the community or a flight risk.

As we recognize Human Rights Day and the 61st anniversary of the signing of the  Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United States and  47 other countries, Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center calls on the U.S. government to restore human rights to our immigration system.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano today called on Congress to take up comprehensive immigration reform in early 2010. Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center welcomes Napolitano’s support in fixing our country’s broken immigration system, but reminds Congress and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that any immigration reform must include procedural protections that secure immigrants’ due process and human rights.

The National Immigrant Justice Center appreciates the Department of Homeland Security’s latest recommendations to reform the immigration detention system, but calls on the U.S. government to reexamine immigration enforcement policies that are contributing to a rapid expansion of the detention population. Failing to address an immigration enforcement system that unnecessarily jails thousands of non-criminal men, women, and children threatens to undermine the government’s stated goal of achieving a “truly civil” immigration detention system.

Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center and  76 human rights advocates, doctors, and community organizations have publicly released a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder calling for basic fairness for people with mental disabilities who face deportation.  The letter points out that the U.S. Constitution guarantees due process protections for all people, including those with disabilities.