Thread: OAS Panel: Illegals Held Under "Unacceptable" Cond

Undocumented Immigrants Held Under "Unacceptable" Conditions, OAS Panel Says:

Published March 18, 2011 EFE

An Organization of American States panel on Thursday said that the detention of undocumented immigrants in the United States has become a general rule when it should be the exception, adding that many of the detainees were being held under "unacceptable" conditions.

That is one of the conclusions presented in the "Report on Immigration in the United States: Detention and Due Process" released by the OAS's Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, or IACHR.

The report was prepared after OAS personnel visited two shelters for unaccompanied minors, a family detention center and three detention centers for adults in Arizona and Texas in July 2009.

Commission member Felipe González told reporters that during the visits to the facilities he saw "a certain (positive) evolution with regard to the treatment of immigrants under the current administration," although it "is still clearly insufficient."

One of the IACHR's main concerns is the "increasing use of detention based on a presumption of its necessity, when in fact detention should be the exception."

"In many if not the majority of cases, detention is a disproportionate measure and the alternatives to detention programs would be a more balanced means of serving the state's legitimate interest in ensuring compliance with immigration laws," the report says.

The IACHR also is concerned about the lack of an authentically civil detention system.

The commission also complained about the impact that detention is having on due process, as just 16 percent of immigrants in detention have legal representation compared with 40 percent of migrants who have been released.

The United States frequently resorts to private contractors for the administration and personal care of detained migrants, and the Inter-American Commission says officials need to do a much better job of overseeing those contractors.

The IACHR said that while detention conditions in the centers that were visited have important differences, all the centers apply penal and punitive measures that are "disproportionately restrictive."

Detained migrants wear prison uniforms; the centers operate like prisons; the detainees are subjected daily to multiple headcounts and are handcuffed or forced to wear shackles any time they are transported outside the center.

"Under the right to humane treatment, many of these practices are unacceptable for any detainee, regardless of the criminal or civil nature of his or her detention. However, as it pertains to the present report, the IACHR observes that, in general, in every circumstance described here, the immigration detainees are treated as criminals."

The report adds that there is inadequate medical care in the centers, as well as poor attention to mental health, complaints about the food, worrying living conditions, isolation of vulnerable groups, a badly-administered system to process complaints and heavy restrictions on lawyer-client meetings, among other things.

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http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2 ... anel-says/

I cannot speak for all Dentention Centers; however, I do know undocumented aliens are treated much better than some American families are living while residing in a Federal Dentention Center, and staff treats them with much respect. Detained illegal immigrants also responds to Officers and staff with great respect.

The IACHR also is concerned about the lack of an authentically civil detention system.

What does this mean and who the hell is the IACHR? Is this another lobbying panel for illegal invaders?

If he dont like it why dont he let them stay in his home?or better yet load them up and take them back to where they come from. If they dont like the treatment then dont show up here if its so bad.Stay away we dont want cha here.

in general, in every circumstance described here, the immigration detainees are treated as criminals

They broke the law. That makes them criminals and they should be treated as such.

related post
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-231647.html