Obama's Vision of "Truly Civil" Immigrant Prison Reform: More Prisoners, More Prisons

An article in today's New York Times provides an outline of the Obama administration's vision of immigrant detention reform: more prisoners, more prisons -- but a "truly civil system." That there will be no fundamental changes to the massively corrupt and widely criticized detention system can be seen in these statements from the story:

• John Morton,head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): "Detention on a large scale must continue, he said, "but it needs to be done thoughtfully and humanely."
• "So far, the new administration has embraced many of those policies, expanding a program to verify worker immigration status that has been widely criticized, bolstering partnerships between federal immigration agents and local police departments, and rejecting a petition for legally binding rules on conditions in immigration detention."
• "Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security, said last week that she expected the number of detainees to stay the same or grow slightly."
• "Asked if his vision could include building new civil detention centers, he (Morton) said yes."

As can be seen from these statements coming from administration officials, President Obama appears willing to maintain and even expand a system of immigrant prisons that civil and human rights organizations across the country and around the world have criticized for the subhuman conditions and deaths found in that system.

The Obama administration's talk of "truly civil" immigrant prisons and of imprisoning immigrants more "thoughtfully and humanely" are reminiscent of similar talk by the Bush administration. After civil and human rights groups criticized the Bush administration for the the terror fostered by and the illegality of its raids, Bush's Homeland Security officials began talking about how they would "humanize" immigration raids. A recent report by the Cardozo School of Law documented how the widespread racial profiling and other violations have continued even after the announcement to "humanize" the raids, raids -- and violations -- that continue under the Obama administration.

Many immigrant prison reform advocates believe that failure to fundamentally alter the "crimmigration" laws that have caused the immigrant prison population to mushroom over the past several years means that such announcements by the Obama administration will ring as hollow as President Obama's talk of "racial profiling" did after his administration quietly announced an expansion of 287(G),one of the largest racial profiling programs in the history of federal government.

It is doubtful that any but those desperate to either secure favor from or provide political cover to the Obama administration will lend their public approval to what many consider an insulting attempt to put a cosmetic cover on the beaten, bruised and sometimes dead body of the rotting detention system. It is also doubtful that pronouncements of a "truly civil"immigrant prison system will do anything to stop the increased attacks on Janet Napolitano -- and Obama -- from their allies in the immigrant rights community. If anything, the pronouncements may intensify that anger by virtue of the insult to their intelligence and moral sensibilities many advocates may feel such a cosmetic politic of prison reform represents.

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Comments

[nee]

We don't need prisions we need to DEPORT ILLEGALS! Heavily fine those who hire ILLEGALS and the jobs would dry up. ILLEGALS would then self-deport!

[olephart]

If they didn't want to go to prison they'd have stayed in their own countries and not snuck into ours. What part of illegal is misunderstood? If I enter someone's house without permission I will go to jail it's a simple concept.

[noneIn2008]

How about reforming the immigration system first? Legal entry would be a good start.

[kohoutek]

What if these "immigrants" focused on turning their own crap country into someplace where they could earn a living and would want to live instead of entering the US illegally? The cost is staggering to the US...the money funneled out of the economy and sent to Mexico; the downward pressure on wages; the services consumed..­.

Sorry, but why don't you try entering any other country outside the proper legal channels and see how things work out.

[Christian]

Oh you sound like a right wing nut that gets upset over the little thing and build it into an argument that you can use for you think the goal should be. These people are thrown into the regular criminal facilities and get mixed with all kinds of bad people and the conditions are what a jail or prison should be, harsh. I think this is a good idea since many are women and children, or just honest people trying to make a better life. Not a great crime against humanity. Get real and find something worthy to complain about.

[farlep99]

Here's an idea- lets just do away with the jails & let them all free. Why have penalties for breaking laws? We don't need those!