Since the Declaration of Independence, America has striven to uphold fairness and due process.  But today, a broken immigration system denies basic human rights and due process to people who live here.  In the aftermath of 9-11, immigrants have borne the brunt of harsh policies with the U.S. government allowing raids and arrests without warrants, holding thousands in inhumane detention conditions, and deporting people without a fair trial.

Learn about the three main issues below: fair day in court, detention and enforcement so you can be part of the movement that calls on the government to bring back due process to the immigration system. Because when we deny due process to some, we put all of our freedoms at risk.

Fair Day in Court

Issue:

The government is denying due process and fairness in our communities by enforcing laws that do not allow judges to rule on a case-by-case basis. These laws apply to mandatory detention and mandatory deportation, and have taken away the judges’ ability to consider the circumstances of each individual’s case.

Judges hands are tied by blanket laws that force them to automatically detain many immigrants, including asylum seekers and legal residents without an individualized determination regarding the person’s liberty. This denial of rights adds to an already overburdened immigration system causing unnecessary suffering to families and communities.

Likewise, if an immigrant, including a legal immigrant, commits a crime, in some cases as minor as shoplifting or having a fistfight, the judge may be required to automatically deport him and cannot consider the circumstances of the case. There are no exceptions.

Personal Stories:

Sandra Kenley, a 52-year-old grandmother, who after living in the U.S. legally for 33 years, was subjected to degrading and grossly inhumane conditions, which led to her untimely death. Her sister June Everett says, “Sandy died trying to do the right thing.  She died because the American system failed her, a system we believed in, a system that needs fixing now.”

Breakthrough was given rare access behind the walls of an immigrant detention center and met several long time residents who face exile from the U.S. As one interviewee, Monica, says, “I see when I’ve gone to court…  the judge, he seems like he wants to rule in my favor but he can’t because his hands are tied.”

Did you know?

In 1996, Congress passed the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) that eliminated important legal rights that previously enabled immigrants to challenge their deportation. http://www.ilrc.org/immigrantjusticenetwork/draconian_laws.html

Using data from 1997 to 2007, a Human Rights Watch report shows that a total of almost 700,000 non-citizens have been deported, many with minor misdemeanor violations from long ago, for which they served no (or a negligible amount of) time in jail. Many had lived in the country for years and were forced apart from close family members. http://www.hrw.org/node/82173

TAKE ACTION TO ENSURE THAT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT RESTORES THE ABILITY OF JUDGES TO CONSIDER INDIVIDUAL CIRCUMSTANCES SO EVERYONE RECEIVES A FAIR DAY IN COURT

For more information on a fair day in court visit our resources page.

Detention:

Issue:

The government is denying due process and fairness in our communities by detaining immigrants who pose no danger and are not a flight risk to the community in inhumane and unregulated detention centers. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants are detained each year. Plans to expand an already crippled immigration system continue with the government spending $1.8 billion to hold an estimated 442,941 detainees in custody in 2009.

Transferred far away from their homes and families, detainees are often denied visitation, telephone calls, access to a lawyer, medical care, and they can be subject to physical and verbal abuse. Even with reported deaths of detained immigrants, detention conditions continue to decline. A Government Accountability Report found that there is no uniform policy for providing medical care to detainees, and a number of facilities have zero healthcare staff on site.

Detention should only be used as the last possible option and for the shortest amount of time. However many vulnerable people, including asylum seekers, pregnant women, children, lawful permanent residents and even U.S. citizens are among those detained, without knowing how long they will be held or why they are being held. Instead of placing thousands in detention centers that cost tax payers $99 per day, DHS should improve legislation around the cost-saving community-based alternatives to detention such as conditional release, requiring people to check in either in person or by phone, bonds or financial deposits.

Personal Stories:

Jean Pierre Kamwa is an Asylum Seeker who was seeking protection in America from a country in which he feared for his life and where many of his friends were killed.  To his surprise, he was handcuffed at the airport and detained. He says, “In detention… your humanity has been given away.”

Ali is a Pakistani-born, HIV+ gay man who had been living in New York City for 30 years with a Green Card. He spent more than a year suffering in immigrant detention and fought to get the medicine he needed to survive. He says, “ There’s no benefit for HIV+ or AIDS people. If you die in your room they don’t care.”

Did you know?

According to the Washington Post, “some 83 detainees have died in, or soon after, custody during the past five years. Actions taken — or not taken — by medical staff members may have contributed to 30 of those deaths.” At least another four questionable deaths have occurred since the article was published in May 2008. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpsrv/nation/specials/immigration/cwc_d1p1.html

More humane alternatives to detention asking people to report by phone and in person that cost as little as $12 per day have been shown to be extremely effective with an estimated 91% appearance in immigration courts. http://www.vera.org/content/testing-community-supervision-ins-evaluation-appearance-assistance-program

TAKE ACTION TO ENSURE THAT THE U.S GOVERNMENT CREATE LEGALLY ENFORCEABLE DETENTION STANDARDS AND IMPLEMENT COST EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION

For more information on detention visit our resources page.

Enforcement:

Issue:

The government is denying due process and fairness in our communities by allowing indiscriminate home and worksite raids and giving state and local law enforcement the authority to enforce immigration law. These sweeping enforcement practices have created a climate of fear in our communities, with the majority of individuals who are swept up posing no threat to public safety. These practices undermine human rights and do not make America safe.

The government has authorized indiscriminate home and workplace raids that have swept up countless individuals who have jobs, families here and contribute to society. Raids have frequently resulted in racial profiling and due process violations against entire communities. Arrests of U.S. citizens and legal residents have been commonplace, with people denied basic rights such as phone calls to lawyers and family, and arrests without warrants.

Through agreements between federal immigration and local law enforcement agencies, the government has sanctioned immigration enforcement at the local level without clear objectives or meaningful oversight. These agreements like one of the most-known and egregious, the “Delegation of Immigration Authority-287(g)” program, have in fact eroded public trust in law enforcement and have resulted in racial and ethnic profiling as well as the unlawful detention of U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Many local police chiefs have rejected these programs because they undermine the trust and cooperation of immigrant communities.

Personal Stories:

Ana Galindo and her husband Walter Chavez never expected to be faced with armed officers in their home. They were one of the many victims of a warrantless home raid. Even though they are legal permanent residents with a 10-year-old U.S. citizen child, they were wrongfully accused of keeping illegal people in the house. Now, their son lives in fear of the police.

Juana Villegas was 9 months pregnant and never pictured herself as a mom-to-be behind bars. She was taken in for a routine traffic violation that is normally taken care of by a simple citation. This violation (of which she was later cleared) was handled by immigration authorized local police and she was locked up in a jail in her state. Taken to the hospital in chains, she went through labor with a sheriff’s officer standing guard in her hospital room, where one of her feet was cuffed to the bed most of the time. She talks of her pain after giving birth, “The nurse brought me a breast pump… she asked permission for me to take it to jail… again the sheriff said, no.”

Did you know?

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of individuals apprehended by National Fugitive Operation Program that is funded to deport dangerous fugitive aliens, often through home raids, have no criminal conviction.  http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/NFOP_Feb09.pdf

In Maricopa County, Arizona, where Sheriff Arpaio has shifted law enforcement resources to combating immigration offenses, FBI statistics show that violent crime has increased by 69%, murder is up 166% and robbery is up 74%. Meanwhile, the Justice Department announced a civil rights investigation of the sheriff. http://www.irlc.org/immigrantjusticenetwork/HandoutFinal5.pdf

TAKE ACTION TO ENSURE THAT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT STOPS INDISCRIMINATE RAIDS AND THE CONTINUED USE OF LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT TO ENFORCE FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAW

For more information on enforcement visit resources page.

To view detailed policy recommendations, please read Restoring Accountability to U.S. Immigration Enforcement