Immigrant detention
More than one hundred religious and human rights advocacy organizations sent President Obama a letter this past week, asking him to address a problem that needs urgent resolution: the violations of basic rights experienced by many detained immigrants while they await their deportation or asylum proceedings.
This is not a new issue. But despite some measures that the Obama administration implemented to standardize detention rules and improve monitoring of these centers, the problem has not been resolved.
Part of the issue is that the federal government lacks enough space to hold the more than 400,000 immigrants per year who are processed through this civil systemimmigrants that excessively strict laws mandate should remain detained. Therefore, it leases beds in local and county jails as well as in centers managed by private companies like the Geo Group and Corrections Corporation of America.
For the past two or three years, human rights advocacy groups have monitored and visited many of these centers and interviewed hundreds of detainees and former detainees. There is evidence that the problems are serious and have not yet improved after the publication of detention standards. The issues reported include the arbitrary use of extreme punishments like isolation cells (for a population that is civil, not criminal), the lack of basic medical care, bad food and poor conditions in general, overcrowding and verbal mistreatment, among others.
Civil rights groups are asking President Obama to close the 10 worst detention centers and to consider alternatives to detention for immigrants who do not pose a danger to the community. We agree that this problem must be tackled right away.
