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Immigrant detention system ensnares American citizens

Process leaves detainees in cruel netherworld, cries out for reform.
Hector Veloz, 37, is a U.S. citizen. His father is a decorated Vietnam War veteran. Yet for more than a year, until last summer, Veloz experienced what can only be described as a Kafkaesque nightmare. He was swept up into the U.S. immigration detention system and held in a prison in Arizona, far from his California home, as officials tried to deport him.

A unique case? Unfortunately not. The bursting-at-the-seams U.S. immigration detention system is all too often an arbitrary and cruel netherworld where normal U.S. justice standards don't apply.
Immigration officials detained about 378,000 people last year, at least three times the number detained a decade ago. On any given day, about 33,400 people are held in some 350 facilities, including in regular prisons among criminals.

Most are illegal immigrants who agree to be deported and usually leave within a month. But thousands β€” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) does not provide exact figures β€” challenge their deportation, usually because they are U.S. citizens or legal residents or because they are seeking asylum from persecution. They can languish for months or years, often locked up far from lawyers and family. Unlike in U.S. courts, they have no automatic right to a lawyer. Their continued detention is usually at the discretion of immigration officials.

Problems with America's immigration detention system have been documented in a slew of studies, including from the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm; the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general; and Human Rights Watch. An Amnesty International report, out today, says legal service providers identified 322 detainees with possible U.S. citizenship in 2007. Often, detainees don't know they can ask for a review by an immigration judge, or bonds are set too high for them to pay. Several of the reports highlight cases in which people in custody have died unnecessarily because of poor access to medical care.

Thousands of legal U.S. residents end up in detention and facing deportation because they have committed a crime, even minor offenses. ICE put Veloz into that category after he served eight months in a California jail in a stolen property case (Veloz says he bought a car he did not know was stolen). It took him months to hire a lawyer and gather documents and testimony to prove his U.S. citizenship.

The whole system needs an overhaul. Besides better regulation and oversight, two important changes could help right away. Detainees should get quick, independent review of their cases. And alternatives to detention, such as ankle bracelets, should be the preferred choice, except in cases where detainees are deemed dangerous or high flight risks. The alternatives make economic sense. The average cost of $95 per detainee per day would drop as low as $12 for supervised release, according to one study by the Vera Institute of Justice in New York.

Dora Schriro, the Obama administration's new special adviser on immigration detainees, has promised a review. The sooner the better. The U.S. should not have an immigration detention system more befitting a lawless Third World country.

Posted at 12:22 AM/ET, March 25, 2009 in Immigration - Editorial, USA TODAY editorial
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Opposing view:

We're seeing progress

ICE is working to turn system from source of outrage to one of pride.

By Dora Schriro

For some time, concerns have been expressed about immigration detention, medical care and the general treatment of ICE detainees. We are beginning to see progress, even in the midst of ICE's swift ramp-up since its inception in 2003, but I believe we have a good deal more we can do.

Fortunately, my boss agrees with me. Shortly after being confirmed, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano recognized an urgent need to closely examine immigration detention. She created a new position within ICE to focus exclusively on the significant growth in immigration detention over the last five years and the conditions of detention, including detainee health care.

Secretary Napolitano selected me to serve as her special adviser to review detention strategies and detainee health care. I will conduct a thoughtful review, drawing from my extensive experience. My charge is to work with others to identify and capitalize on opportunities to improve the detention operations of ICE.

I have learned that the best way to achieve change is to work closely with partners inside and outside of government, including vital organizations such as Amnesty International, which will issue a report raising concerns about immigration detention later today. I will carefully consider this important report.

Out of concern for the conditions of detainees' confinement, ICE already has made appreciable gains by adopting detention standards and monitoring compliance with those standards. However, the care and treatment some ICE detainees receive does not yet meet our shared expectation of excellence. We all agree this is reason for concern.

Secretary Napolitano and I share a sense of urgency about this work, and I will present her with my preliminary findings as soon as possible. I have always believed that how we treat those who are in detention for whatever reason reflects who we are and what we believe as a nation; we must transform a detention system that has been a source of outrage into a reflection of our best selves. The opportunity for meaningful reform is ripe. Secretary Napolitano is committed to measurable, sustainable progress. ICE pledges to ensure this happens.

Dr. Dora Schriro is special adviser to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Detention and Removal.

Posted at 12:21 AM/ET, March 25, 2009 in Immigration - Editorial, USA TODAY editorial | Permalink
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