The slow heat of August is upon us, but there is much to work on in Washington. The Obama Administration recently announced long-overdue plans to overhaul the deeply flawed U.S. immigration detention system. This is great news, but we also need legislative action that mandates fair treatment and due process -- in other words, basic rights -- for those who find themselves detained in U.S. immigration jails after fleeing to this country in search of protection from political, religious or other persecution.
Two new bills have been introduced in the Senate that would take a huge step in the right direction. These bills -- the Secure and Safe Detention and Asylum Act and the Protect Citizens and Residents from Unlawful Detention Act -- would provide much-needed safeguards to detained asylum seekers and immigrants. The measures would:
-Provide asylum seekers with access to immigration court custody determinations,
-Increase oversight of immigration detention,
-Put detention standards into regulations, and
-Promote cost-saving alternatives to detention.
Human Rights First released a report in April 2009 that found that the United States had detained thousands of asylum seekers in jails and jail-like facilities for months and sometimes years, often without basic safeguards like hearings to assess the need for continued detention, and at a cost to taxpayers of over $300 million since 2003. This cannot go on.
Unfortunately, bills that relate to immigrants can meet with vigorous resistance, no matter how crucial the proposals, and the anti-immigrant vitriol that is rampant at townhall protests this month will only add to it. Write your Senators. Convince them to make the right decision to co-sponsor these bills that promise much-needed detention reform - send your letter now!
Public support for immigration detention reform is critical if we are to ensure -- at last -- that refugees arriving at our shores find protection, and not prison.
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