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For Immediate Release
April 10, 2009
Contact: Janvieve Williams Comrie, 404.610.2807, jwilliams@lacccenter.org
National Week of Action Spotlights Need For
Reform of Broken & Inhumane U.S. Immigration Enforcement System
WASHINGTON - The growing number of gross civil and human rights violations in immigration enforcement and detention has spurred calls for significant changes in government policies. This week, Detention Watch Network and the Rights Working Group, two coalitions with more than 400 organizational members across the country, are participating in a National Week of Action from April 8-15. Groups in more than 25 states will hold vigils, attend meetings with elected officials, and organize educational events to demand that due process and fundamental human rights be respected in immigration enforcement practices and the immigration detention system.
Since 2003, a reported 91 immigrants have died while in the custody of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Recent reports by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Government Accountability Office document that detained immigrants are frequently denied appropriate medical care, visitation, access to counsel and legal materials in violation of immigration detention standards and fundamental due process protections. Programs that allow state and local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws have not only resulted in wide-scale racial profiling but have also led to further abuses.
“An individual’s legal status should have no bearing on whether they are afforded humane and just treatment in accordance with basic human rights standards and U.S. law,” says Margaret Huang, Executive Director of the Rights Working Group, one of the organizations coordinating the National Week of Action. “The government’s own reports underscore the clear and urgent need for reform.”
Consider:
-For 10 days last November, immigration detainee Guido Newbrough sought medical attention from his Virginia jailers for the treatable bacterial infection that was devastating his heart. Despite repeated and increasingly desperate pleas, he was not only denied care but was locked in an isolation cell for his complaints. Newbrough, who lived in the United States for 42 of his 48 years, died several days later.
-Warren Joseph, a legal immigrant and permanent resident of the U.S. who served in the U.S. Army in Iraq, was detained in an immigration facility for three years and threatened with mandatory deportation because of actions related to post-traumatic stress disorder.
Juana Villegas was nine months pregnant when she was stopped for "careless driving" (for which she was later acquitted). The jurisdiction in which she was pulled over has an active 287(g) agreement with the federal government allowing local police to enforce civil infractions of federal immigration law. Instead of receiving the customary citation, the officer asked Villegas for proof of citizenship, then took her to jail where she was shackled during labor and subsequently separated from her newborn baby.
This is just a snapshot of the mounting number of human rights abuses being documented under current immigration enforcement and detention policies. The Obama administration has taken some preliminary steps to investigate immigration enforcement and detention practices, but fundamental reform is still needed. As part of the National Week of Action, Rights Working Group and Detention Watch Network are advancing a series of recommendations to Congress and the Administration calling for the elimination of wasteful government spending on untargeted and indiscriminate enforcement actions and the skyrocketing use of detention. These recommendations are aimed at redirecting resources to focus strategically on serious enforcement concerns that promote public safety while upholding human rights.
“Almost a half a million immigrants will be detained by the end of this year. The time is now. We cannot wait until thousands more immigrants are deprived of their civil rights,” says Andrea Black, Network Coordinator of Detention Watch Network. “We are hopeful that Congress and the Administration will work together to achieve the crucial set of reforms needed in our current immigration enforcement and detention policy.”
The National Week of Action is part of the Hold the Department of Homeland Security Accountable! campaign, an initiative of the Rights Working Group and Detention Watch Network. On Tuesday, April 14th, a press conference will be held at 9:30am at the National Press Club to highlight activities from the National Week of Action.
For more information on specific events or to arrange interviews, please contact Janvieve Williams Comrie at 404.610.2807, jwilliams@lacccenter.org.
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Formed in the aftermath of 9/11, the Rights Working Group is a coalition of more than 250 community-based grassroots groups and national organizations working to restore civil liberties and human rights protections for all people living in the U.S. For more information on the Rights Working Group, please visit www.rightsworkinggroup.org.
The Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a national coalition of organizations and individuals working to educate the public and policy makers about the U.S. immigration detention and deportation system and the need for humane reform. For more information on Detention Watch Network, please visit www.detentionwatchnetwork.org.
