Been reading a lot lately from Daily Kos folks who support a major increase in the use of immigration detention and a "get tough" policy on "illegals". People of good conscience can differ on the level of immigration that we can accept or support, on immigration enforcement policy, and on policies to penalize those who hire undocumented persons. The immigration laws are not effectively enforced, and the system is broken. I would argue that the combination of draconian laws and arbitrary, inefficient enforcement is creating a vicious cycle in which people clamor for ever harsher penalties and treatment, while never addressing the underlying need to regulate immigration competently, in keeping with our values.
For my first diary on immigration, let's take a look at the rhetoric about "getting tough" on illegals and examine a case in which the immigration service took this idea too literally.
In August, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel tortured a Nigerian asylum seeker in Oklahoma:
Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY - Allegations that as many as six federal Homeland Security deportation agents assaulted and tortured a shackled Nigerian man at Oklahoma City's Immigration and Customs Enforcement office are being investigated by the FBI, according to a published report.
Complaints were filed by the Nigerian, Daso Abibo, 51, and by Deanna Burdine, 65, a former Homeland Security employee who says she walked in on the assault....
...Mr. Abibo wrote a letter from the Oklahoma County Jail in which he said he was attacked by five or six Homeland Security employees after telling an officer he wanted his attorney to review a deportation-related document before signing or placing his fingerprint on it.
"In a flash, five, maybe six officers attacked me," he wrote.
"It was a nightmare. It was so painful, I asked them to shoot me ... dead so they could get what they want."
...Ms. Burdine was fired in April. She says her dismissal was retaliation for filing the complaint.
Online at: http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/081505dntexoktorture.7e80e5f.h
tml
This case points out a few important issues. First, asylum seekers have the right to a hearing and the right to an attorney (at their own expense) under the Refugee Act and the UN Refugee Convention, of which the US is a signator. Asylum seekers are not supposed to be detained under international law, unless they present a reasonable suspicion of being a security threat. Mr. Abibo is a Nigerian Christian with no suspected involvement in terrorism. He was not a danger to society.
ICE routinely attempts to coerce "stipulated orders of removal" from detainees, whether or not they have an attorney. Usually they don't beat people until they sign, but had the ICE whistleblower not come forward, this story would have gone unreported. Mr. Abibo was deported. I know of many cases of coercion to force detainees to sign orders of removal and give up their legal rights. In one case, a Guatemalan boy who spoke only Mam was forced to sign an order in English by a Spanish speaking immigration officer. It turns out that the boy had the right to remain in the United States, and a judge eventually found in his favor. However, he was nearly deported despite the fact that he had grounds for status.
I am most disturbed by the reality that beatings and torture occasionally occur in the US immigration detention system, and that there are no real safeguards, inspections or oversight to control serious beatings of immigrants in our own land.
Nobody objects to humanely interdicting economic migrants and humanely but efficiently returning them. However, the actual world of immigration enforcement is filled with cruelty, waste and injustice. I will periodically post stories here on immigration, and on specific aspects of immigration law, in order to spark more debate and discussion among Democrats.