International Report Faults U.S. Immigration Detention Centers

A report issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) examines the use of detention centers for immigration cases.

2011-06-11

June 11, 2011 (Press-News.org) A report issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) examines the use of detention centers for immigration cases. The report criticized the operation of system that is overly penal in nature, resorting to prison-like conditions for administrative detentions.

The IACHR was prompted to investigate the detention systems by complaints human rights advocates, according to a New York Times story.

Findings of the Report

The Inter-American Commission found that:
- In many if not the majority of cases, detention is a disproportionate measure and the alternatives to detention programs would be a more balanced means of serving the State's legitimate interest in ensuring compliance with immigration laws.
- The rapid increase in the number of partnerships with local and state law enforcement for purposes of enforcing civil immigration laws.
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has failed to develop an oversight and accountability system to ensure that these local partners do not enforce immigration law in a discriminatory manner by resorting to racial profiling and that their practices do not use the supposed investigation of crimes as a pretext to prosecute and detain undocumented migrants.

California Detention Centers

The report was based on research done in Texas and Arizona, but its findings appear to apply to the operation of centers throughout the U.S., including California. California facilities include:
- James Musick Facility in Irvine
- Theo Lacy Facility in Orange
- Mira Loma Detention Center in Lancaster

Massive Increase in the Use of Detention

The report highlights ICE's civil immigration operations. Since 2002, with the creation of DHS and ICE, the federal government has taken a stricter enforcement approach to civil immigration violations.

In a 2003 memorandum to its field office directors, the Office of Detention and Removal Operations (DRO), a subsection of ICE, announced "Operation Endgame," a ten-year strategic plan to achieve a "100% removal rate."

Through a series of programs, including partnerships with state and local law enforcement, the number of those deported rose from 189,026 in FY2001 to 358,886 in FY2008.

ICE detention of noncitizens practically doubled, from approximately 209,000 in FY2001 to 378,582 in FY2008.

The Inter-American Commission is troubled by the fact that penal-type detention has become the rule, rather than the exception.

Help for Detainees

If you have friends or family currently detained, speaking with an experienced immigration attorney is a good place to start. Immigration law is very complex and an attorney can help answer your questions.

Article provided by Gita B. Kapur Law Office
Visit us at www.gitakapurlaw.com

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Earth from space: A gush of volcanic gas

2011-06-11

This image shows the huge plume of sulphur dioxide that spewed from Chile's Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Volcanic Complex, which lies in the Andes about 600 km south of Santiago. After lying dormant for more than 50 years, a series of rumbling earthquakes signalled the beginnings of this major volcanic eruption. On 4 June, a fissure opened, sending a towering plume of volcanic ash and gas over 10 km high. Several thousand people were evacuated as a thick layer of ash and pumice fell and blanketed a wide area. Airports in Chile and Argentina were closed as a result. The ...

Side-Impact Car Accidents in California: Crash Stats and Victims' Rights

2011-06-11

Side-impact crashes account for 13 percent of all car accidents and 18 percent of all fatal car accidents, according to a 2009 study conducted by the University of Michigan. These types of crashes, also known as T-bone accidents, can result in serious injuries to drivers and passengers, who may be able to file personal-injury lawsuits following side-impact car accidents in California. Automotive Experts Test Side-Impact Safety While front-impact collisions have been the focus of automotive safety improvements for decades, researchers and auto engineers are turning ...

Voters have up to 5 times more influence in early primaries

2011-06-11

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Voters in states with early primary races such as Iowa and New Hampshire have up to five times the influence of voters in later states in selecting presidential candidates, according to research by Brown University economist Brian Knight. The paper, the first to quantify the effects of early victories in the race for the presidential nomination, is co-authored by Nathan Schiff and published in The Journal of Political Economy. Knight and Schiff developed a statistical model that examines how daily polling data responds to returns ...

Strength training for grandma and grandpa

2011-06-11

People lose 30% of their muscle strength between the ages of 50 and 70 years. However, maintaining muscle strength in old age is enormously important in order to maintain mobility and to be able to lead an independent life and manage everyday tasks independently. In the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, Frank Mayer and colleagues from the University of Potsdam conclude that progressive strength (resistance) training counteracts muscular atrophy in old age (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2011; 108(21): 359-64). The authors investigated the extent of the effects that ...

Supreme Court to Decide if Strip Searches Violated Civil Rights

2011-06-11

The U.S. Supreme Court has heard several cases regarding acceptable behavior by law enforcement, and this term is no exception. One of the cases involves Albert Florence, a New Jersey resident who alleged that his civil rights were violated after being subject to strip searches when being booked into two local jails. Florence was stopped in 2005 while riding in his vehicle with his wife and daughter. The police ran a search for the vehicle's registration, and discovered that it belonged to Florence, who had an outstanding warrant for an unpaid fine from a 2003 non-indictable ...

Chasing EHEC with the computer

2011-06-11

Just a few genes make enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) extremely dangerous to humans. If it were not for these genes, EHEC would hardly differ from harmless enteric bacteria. Bioinformatics scientists from the Saarbrücken Cluster of Excellence want to exploit this similarity to find starting points for effective drugs against the EHEC pathogen. In a very short time, the scientists have constructed EhecRegNet, a database and analysis platform that incorporates all known interactions between enteric E. coli genes. Using integrated simulations, genetic switches for the dangerous ...

Disabled Parent Embroiled in Custody Dispute

2011-06-11

Patti Flynn is a disabled mother locked in a legal battle with her ex-boyfriend for custody of their five-year-old son. The parties currently share custody, but Flynn's ex-boyfriend is seeking full custody of the child. While this is an intense emotional fight, she has been through such struggles before. A week before she was to be married, Flynn suffered a stroke and fell in the shower, leaving her unable to speak or move her right side. Unfortunately, that relationship deteriorated, but she endured a long road of rehabilitation and learned how to care for her toddler. ...

Ultrathin copper-oxide layers behave like quantum spin liquid

2011-06-11

UPTON, NY - Magnetic studies of ultrathin slabs of copper-oxide materials reveal that at very low temperatures, the thinnest, isolated layers lose their long-range magnetic order and instead behave like a "quantum spin liquid" - a state of matter where the orientations of electron spins fluctuate wildly. This unexpected discovery by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborators at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland may offer support for the idea that this novel condensed state of matter is a precursor to the ...

Sexual Harassment in West Virginia Workplaces

2011-06-11

Under federal and West Virginia state laws, you have the right to work free from gender discrimination or harassment. Most people know that sexual harassment is wrong, but they don't know exactly what the term means. Simply put, sexual harassment is -- according to Black's Law Dictionary -- "a type of employment discrimination consisting of verbal or physical abuse of a sexual nature." Admittedly, this is a somewhat vague definition. Fortunately, though, laws and court rulings have provided guidance to employers and employees alike as to what sorts of behaviors ...

An egalitarian Internet? Not so, UGA study says

2011-06-11

Athens, Ga. – The Internet is often thought of as a forum that enables egalitarian communication among people from diverse backgrounds and political persuasions, but a University of Georgia study reveals that online discussion groups display the same hierarchical structure as other large social groups. "About 2 percent of those who start discussion threads attract about 50 percent of the replies," said study author Itai Himelboim, assistant professor in the UGA Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. "So although we have this wide range and diversity of ...

International Report Faults U.S. Immigration Detention Centers

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: