Detention
Immigration Groups File Briefs Calling For End to Detention Without Bond
Although the U.S. Constitution provides citizens and noncitizens the right to seek bail after an arrest, immigration detention is different. Certain noncitizens who are arrested by immigration authorities may be detained for months on end, while awaiting hearings that will determine whether they can remain in the United States. Many… Read More
The Changing Face of Those Apprehended at the Southern U.S. Border
This week the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the total number of apprehensions by the Border Patrol of individuals trying to enter the country without authorization for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016. The overall number of apprehensions is up from last year, but down when compared to FY 2013… Read More
Why “Family Detention” is a Misnomer
More than two years after the Obama Administration launched its aggressive expansion of family detention in an attempt to “deter” the arrival of asylum-seeking Central American families, numerous problems associated with such practice have been brought to light.One such issue is the separation of family units while… Read More
Government Admits Providing False Information to Supreme Court
Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) sent a letter to the Supreme Court alerting the Justices that it had provided the Court with incorrect information regarding how long certain noncitizens were held in detention. DOJ initially had provided this false information to the Supreme Court in 2002 for… Read More
Lengthy Detention and Reprehensible Conditions in Border Patrol Facilities, New Evidence Shows
Each year, the Border Patrol—a division of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)—holds hundreds of thousands of individuals in detention facilities near the U.S. southern border. These facilities are meant to hold individuals for a short time while they undergo initial processing and until a decision is made about the appropriate… Read More
Why 22 Mothers Are On a Hunger Strike at the Berks Family Detention Facility
In protest of their families’ ongoing and prolonged detention in the Berks County Residential Center, a group of mothers began a hunger strike on Monday, August 8. They penned a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson explaining why: We left our homes in Central America… Read More
Government’s Treatment of Asylum Seekers Falling Short
Human Rights First (HRF) and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) each released reports this month detailing the flawed treatment of asylum seekers in the United States. The USCIRF report, Barriers to Protection: The Treatment of Asylum Seekers in Expedited Removal, looks at the Department of Homeland… Read More
Supreme Court to Consider Whether DHS Can Subject Noncitizens to Prolonged, Mandatory Detention
Last month, the Supreme Court announced that, in fall 2016, it will hear arguments in Jennings v. Rodriguez, a challenge to the prolonged detention of noncitizens in removal proceedings. At issue is whether the government can keep a noncitizen who is fighting her deportation case locked up for however… Read More
Ninth Circuit Decision Should Prompt End to Family Detention
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the Flores Settlement (a 1997 agreement that set legal standards for the detention and release of immigrant children) applies to both unaccompanied and accompanied minors. The Court also found that neither Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) detention and release policies at existing… Read More
Photographic Evidence of Conditions in CBP’s Short-Term Detention Facilities “Hieleras” Revealed
A judge in Arizona unsealed photographs central to ongoing litigation challenging deplorable and unconstitutional conditions in Border Patrol’s short-term detention facilities in the Tucson Sector. The never-before-seen-photos show the inside of facilities known as “hieleras” or ice-boxes—a term coined by those held in the frigid concrete cells. The… Read More
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