Friday, December 04, 2009
The United States system for detaining illegal immigrants is a mess, filled with examples of unlawful arrests of citizens and legal residents by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, according to multiple investigations from government and human rights sources. The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general found many instances of ICE not telling detainees why they’ve been arrested, or shipping them to remote detention centers where access to lawyers is limited.
According to a report by Human Rights Watch, the government arrested 1.4 million people from 1999 to 2008, with most of them coming in just the last three years. “ICE is increasingly subjecting detainees to a chaotic game of musical chairs, and it’s a game with dire consequences,” said Alison Parker, author of the report.
A bipartisan group, the Constitution Project, called for numerous changes in federal immigration policies and laws, including requiring the appointment of lawyers for detainees facing deportation.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Immigration Detention System Lapses Detailed (by Nina Bernstein, New York Times)
Locked Up Far Away (Human Rights Watch)
Recommendations for Reforming Our Immigration Detention System and Promoting Access to Counsel in Immigration Proceedings (The Constitution Project) (PDF)
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