Thread: Juanes Urges U.S. to “Humanize” Its Immigration Policy

MIAMI – Colombian singer-songwriter Juanes called on the U.S. to “humanize” its immigration policy, slammed the criminal treatment of the undocumented and was appalled by the billion-dollar business of private prisons where these immigrants are held.

“Not having documents can’t be a crime. We are all equal,” the artist said in a telephone interview with EFE after visiting the Eloy Detention Center this week in the Arizona desert.

The singer said this “rough experience” helped him understand the migration crisis better because now he can connect the news and statistics with the faces of these undocumented migrants,” the musician said.

For the Colombian, most people who flee to this country do it “because they want a better chance in life, not because they come to be criminals.”

After listening to two immigrant women “who couldn’t contain themselves,” and because he was forbidden to speak with the detainees, Juanes did some investigating into for-profit prisons and the immigrant detention quotas at these centers, which are the responsibility of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“When you understand the big business behind these private prisons, it hits you hard,” said the Colombian, who was invited to sing outside the Eloy by fellow vocalist John Legend.

Juanes thus joined forces with #FreeAmerica, the African American singer’s campaign urging an end to the mass incarceration of immigrants as part of a transformation of the criminal justice system.

National civil rights and pro-immigrant groups maintain that the system of detention quotas, which pressures the ICE into keeping some 34,000 beds occupied daily, feeds the greed of corporations, which see the undocumented as the raw material of a lucrative enterprise.

“That business should be shut down,” Juanes said about the nearly $160 the ICE pays daily for each detained immigrant.

Juanes, who toured the 1,500-bed detention center with Legend, regretted that the “verbal and psychological” treatment of the undocumented “is no different from the way real criminals are treated.”

“Immigration policy must be humanized – you can’t judge everyone the same way. They are human beings with good intentions, and they only want to work to provide a better future for their families,” he said.

Juanes and Legend sang together on the back of a truck outside the Eloy Detention Center.

Latin American Herald Tribune - Juanes Urges U.S. to “Humanize” Its Immigration Policy

Why is he in our country?