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.
“Even as DHS officials announced plans in recent months to reform the detention system, they continued to hide systemic breakdowns that led to more than 100 detainee deaths since 2003,” said Mary Meg McCarthy, executive director, National Immigrant Justice Center. “President Obama and Congress must change DHS’s internal culture from one which opposes transparency to one in which staff at all levels are held accountable for the humane treatment of people in their custody.
DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detains more than 33,000 people per day in more than 350 federal detention centers and county jails. The detention population has increased more than 60 percent since 2005, the same period during which news media have published numerous reports about medical neglect and deaths within the system. The New York Times reported on January 9, 2010, that ICE and Division of Immigration Health Services (DIHS) officials on numerous occasions falsified documents and otherwise hid evidence of internal problems which led to some of the deaths.
The National Immigrant Justice Center calls on the U.S. government to take five immediate steps to avoid further deaths and human rights abuses within the detention system:
• DHS should contract outside, independent health care professionals to review and provide recommendations for reforming DIHS.
• ICE must stop detaining thousands of men, women, and children who pose no threat to society. The continuing increase in unnecessary detention threatens to undermine detention reform efforts.
• ICE should allow independent observers, including non-governmental organizations, to visit and monitor all facilities holding ICE detainees, and issue public reports on their findings.
• Congress should pass legislation making ICE detention standards legally enforceable.
• Congress should conduct quarterly oversight hearings during which ICE officials must show measurable steps toward implementing meaningful detention reform.
“The President and Congress must step forward and hold ICE accountable for its treatment of immigrants, before another life is lost.” McCarthy said.
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For more information
“Officials Hid Truth of Immigrant Deaths in Jail,” The New York Times, January 9, 2010
“What Really Happened to Boubacar Bah?” (Video) The New York Times, January 9, 2010
NIJC News and Policy Statements on Immigration Detention Reform
About the National Immigrant Justice Center
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. For more information visit www.immigrantjustice.org.