Thread: NJ:Menendez, Lutheran Bishop, Slam Immig. Detention Centers

Broken system puts immigrants in peril

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Amid reports of people dying after being detained for administrative immigration-related reasons, we recently visited the Elizabeth Immigration Detention Center to see firsthand how detainees are being housed.

It is clear that Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Division of Immigration Health Services have difficult challenges on their hands. We certainly believe that the officials we met with are sincere in their efforts to ensure that detention conditions are safe and healthy. However, massive immigration raids that have violated the rights of far too many American citizens along with weak standards for basic and emergency medical care have created a system that is often illegal and deadly.

Despite the good intentions of those in charge of the detention centers, unless the broader system is fixed, we will continue to see Americans harassed and detained through no fault of their own, and we will continue to see unnecessary deaths.

Regardless of how you feel about our country's immigration problem, we can all agree that American citizens and permanent residents should never get caught up in immigration raids, and we can all agree that a detention should never amount to a death sentence.

While at Elizabeth, we spoke privately with three detainees. Two of them have received no care for serious conditions despite weeks of waiting. Decisions about those patients' treatment may be made by medical professionals who have never even seen them. And if a patient dies, there is no requirement that the deaths be reported to oversight authorities.

If these sorts of basic medical care concerns were evident when a U.S. senator and religious leader visited with plenty of prior notice, one can only imagine the conditions in detention centers with less oversight and less high-profile visitors.

Many of the detainees in Elizabeth were swept up in the federal government's unprecedented crackdown on illegal immigration — a wave of raids on homes, workplaces and even houses of worship that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of people being locked up in detention centers. Unfortunately, many of them are U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents who simply fit the "profile" targeted by agents.

In other words, raids targeting those who are here illegally have led to the harassment and detention of law-abiding, patriotic Americans and their families. Knowing that doesn't sit right with us, and it probably doesn't sit right with many of you either.

The dramatic increase in raids and the skyrocketing use of detention is costing taxpayers more than a billion dollars each year. Detention is frequently justified on public safety grounds, even though thousands of detainees are asylum seekers, individuals fleeing from torture, people with serious medical needs, pregnant women and even nursing mothers who pose no safety risk whatsoever.

It is shameful enough to deprive people of their liberty when their only offense is seeking refuge from persecution, but ignoring serious threats to their health after sending them into our prisons and detention centers is both inhumane and unsafe. Recent investigative reports by The Washington Post and The New York Times revealed grossly substandard medical care for those in detention, including 83 reported deaths over the last five years.

As such, there must be accountability. Proper medical care for immigrant detainees, especially in an emergency situation, is a human rights issue. If this nation wants to be a beacon of light to the rest of the world, as we subscribe and aspire to be, and if we want to tell other countries about the responsibility of putting human rights first, then we must do everything we can to offer necessary medical care, even to those in custody. Congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America felt so strongly about this issue that they adopted a resolution in New Jersey calling for a more humane approach.

To stop the unlawful detention of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents and provide humane treatment to those who are detained, we are supporting legislation to set legal boundaries on how raids are conducted, reform our detention system and increase the use of alternatives to detention. This legislation will not save those who have already died in immigration detention or suffered indignity there, but it will make a difference to those still being held in prisonlike conditions. The legislation would be a step in restoring a sense of security and stability for our communities and the immigrants who live among us.

In times like these, our greatest enemy is fear itself. We cannot provide security to our communities by placing at risk our nation's most sacred values and principles. While we must enforce our nation's laws, we must do so in a way that cares for the dignity of every human being and upholds our Constitution. Now, more than ever, we should remember the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: "We may have come on different ships, but we're all in the same boat now."

The Rev. E. Roy Riley is bishop of the New Jersey Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Robert Menendez represents New Jersey in the U.S. Senate.

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Raids affecting american citizens last I checked they were arresting non-citizens.Also there have been a few deaths in detention but that as bad as it is does not measure up to thousands of americans killed every year by IA'S.

It is all B/S to make Americans look and feel bad....NOT WORKING!!!

What do they want, CONDO'S??

Jail, prison, and detainment centers should not be nice or fun.

Maybe set up a consulate in the detention centers . That way the bills can be directly passed on to the source of the detainees .

I think their lawyers and interrupters should be furnished by their consulates...why in the world should Americans ae saddled with the expense, it is their citizens....may when it is costing them billions they will find a way to keep them home.

Just how much money are the Churches, Bishops, Pastors etc putting out? Oh yea, NADA!

Just talk, talk, talk; whine, whine,whine. If their tax exempt status was in jeopardy we wouldn't be hearing all this crap.

Many of the detainees in Elizabeth were swept up in the federal government's unprecedented crackdown on illegal immigration — a wave of raids on homes, workplaces and even houses of worship that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of people being locked up in detention centers. Unfortunately, many of them are U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents who simply fit the "profile" targeted by agents.

In other words, raids targeting those who are here illegally have led to the harassment and detention of law-abiding, patriotic Americans and their families. Knowing that doesn't sit right with us, and it probably doesn't sit right with many of you either.

It sits just fine with me! If a law abiding American citizen is caught up in any raid and detained, that leaves me asking a couple questions.

1) If they indeed are legal American citizens, their stay in any camp should only be hours. If it's any longer, then there must be a problem proving who they say they are. If Everify can take seconds to determine if papers are legit or not, then what's the problem?

2) Why would a law abiding American citizen be caught up in a raid? Harboring? Aiding? Abetting? What? If they're living in the same home, then they have to know they are living with illegals. If they know, then they aren't law-abiding citizens, are they? If they were visiting or standing near, then again, it should take little time to know their status.

I feel once a raid has been conducted, only spend a day or 2 determining legal status. If they are legal then it should never take more than that to prove it. When 2 days pass, pack the remainder on a bus and dump their butts on the other side of the border. Why should the taxpayers pay to lodge while a handful of people find out where they came from? I could care less, dump their sorry butts on the other side and let mexico sort them out! And why even detain them? Have the bus sitting by during the raid. Instead of letting them go promising to appear in court, chuck em on the bus and start driving towards the border! The entire process is a waste of money and gives all those pooey lawyers more time to muck things up. The law says deport. When caught....DEPORT!

With this issue as bad as it is, why in the world would a legal immigrant (visa holder or otherwise) NOT carry their papers with them 24/7? I would and if they can't think ahead as to what will happen to them if caught up in a raid, then they might deserve to be detained for stupidity.

However, massive immigration raids that have violated the rights of far too many American citizens along with weak standards for basic and emergency medical care have created a system that is often illegal and deadly.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARE NOT AMERICANS. The only people affected by the raids are illegal aliens WHO HAVE BEEN PRE-WARNED that raids might happen. SO WHY DIDNT THEY JUST LEAVE?

Illegal aliens are criminals. Criminals are locked up. What do they expect? To be treated like Hotel guests with special suites and food service?