Call your Rep and Senator Lautenberg! (unless you live in the 13th)

by: kwilkinson

Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 05:12:46 PM EDT

Only Rep. Sires is signed on to the House bill.  Rep. Pallone has agreed to sign on after the recess. All NJ Dems, if not all NJ congressmen, should either co-sponsor this bill or make it even tougher.

We need to press for alternatives to detention.  It costs $14/night to treat those awaiting deportation hearings like parolees, and $100 to detain them.

Sen Menendez said last week (bolding mine):

This is yet another gut-wrenching story of subhuman treatment in our nation's detention centers. Regardless of how anyone feels about particular immigration cases, we can all agree that humans must be treated as humans. We can all agree that a detention should never amount to a death sentence.

Not only did Jason Ng die because of a cancer that detention center officials ignored, but he was essentially tortured by the pain that he endured as his cancer spread and his spine broke. If our nation is to promote human rights around the world, then we have to live up to that standard here at home.

The NYTimes also had an opinion piece Sunday saying:

This country's harsh regime of immigration enforcement is racked with troubles from top to bottom, from the federal raids recklessly sweeping thousands of harmless immigrants into custody to the scandal-riddled detention system that abuses and neglects them once they get there.

Amy Goodman talked with Rep. Lofgren yesterday, along with the detainee's lawyer.  Lofgren said:

...when you arrest someone, you undertake some basic obligations for their care, and that's required in our Constitution. You know, when you arrest someone, you have to feed them. That?s because they are no longer able to run down the street to McDonald's on their own. When you arrest someone and they become ill, you need to provide basic medical care, because they can't run down the street to the clinic or their own physician. That's just the standards of decency that nations have, and it applies to the United States, as well.

One of things that I found most appalling about Jason Ng's story, was that it wasn't until a judge said to treat him, that he was given a CAT scan. He died only a few days later.

Please call your rep and ask him to co-sponsor.  Here's the Dem congressmen (other than Sires) and Senator Lautenberg's contact info.

Frank Lautenberg, 202-224-3224
Rob Andrews, 202-225-6501
Frank Pallone, 202-225-4671
Bill Pascrell, 202-225-5751
Steve Rothman, 202-225-5061
Donald Payne, 202-225-3436
Rush Holt, 202-225-5801

Menendez's call for basic medical care for immigrant detainees

by: kwilkinson

Thu May 22, 2008 at 12:19:47 AM EDT

Menendez joined with Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D, CA) and others for a press conference Wednesday on a bill she initiated in the House on May 1st, and he subsequently introduced in the Senate, to attempt to set federal standards for medical treatment of immigrant detainees, after many reports of deaths through what a NY Times editorial calls Death by Detention.

Rep.  Zoe Lofgren is on the right with the blue blazer.  On the left, closest to Menendez is June Everett, who is the sister of Sandra Marina Kenley, who died while detained.  Adele Kimmel, from Public Justice, who represented Francisco Castaneda is on the far left.  Castaneda died of cancer that was not treated while he was in detention, which led to an admission of negligence on the part of the government.  

Tom Jawetz of the Aclu, immigration detention staff attorney for the ACLU National Prison Project is quoted:

Menendez and Lofgren's Detainee Basic Medical Care Act of 2008 is a strong first step towards ensuring those held in immigration detention are treated humanely and receive the medical care they need. In a country that prides itself as a beacon of freedom and democracy, the fact that ICE officials have refused to provide basic medical care to those in its custody should be seen as nothing less than shameful. Congress must pass this important and necessary legislation, and restore a modicum of humanity to our immigration detention system.

I have written about Menendez introducing the bill, and the death of a detainee in Middlesex county jail in early March.  We need this legislation, along with oversight of DHS/ICE and the myriad of private contractors, county jails, etc. who are holding detainees awaiting deportation hearings.

The Washington Post covered it Thursday, mentioning Conyers & Lofgren will be asking for a hearing with Chertoff and  Julie Myers, assistant secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after Memorial Day, (bolding mine).  

DHS Will Face Questions on Care of Detained Immigrants

...Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) announced that Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and others will question Chertoff and Myers in a meeting today about reports of medical negligence and deaths of immigrants in ICE detention, as well as improper detentions of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents...

"The Department of Homeland Security's denial and delay is leading to death and disability," Conyers said. "It is time for answers, not excuses."  The Post reported this month that thousands of pages of internal government documents depicted a "massive crisis in detainee medical care" in a health-care system run by the Division of Immigration Health Services, a small agency taken over by ICE last fall. During the past five years, about 83 immigrants died during or soon after being taken into custody.

...ICE doubled spending on detainee health care between 2003 and 2007, to $100 million. However, independent analysts said such statistics are misleading. Medical spending has not kept pace with the growth in the detainee population, which has more than tripled since 2001, to 311,000 over the course of a year, according to ICE and the Government Accountability Office, Congress's audit arm.

and another reason the ACLU is involved:

The inquiry comes as the federal government has dramatically escalated its detention of immigrants, who are typically imprisoned under a penal model even though most are charged with administrative immigration violations. Detainees are not guaranteed the protections provided to citizens or criminal defendants, including access to public defenders, and instead are held under 38 nonbinding detention guidelines. Congressional investigators reported last year that many detainees are improperly barred from making even a single phone call to a lawyer and cannot file grievances or seek consular help because of inadequate internal procedures. ICE is spending $2.4 billion on detention and removal operations this year.

As a former resident of a border state, it is surprising to hear that once a detainee has been deported after a hearing, a subsequent re-entry is a felony.  This is either a punitive strategy, akin to the NY 'Rockefeller drug laws' or CA 'Three Strikes,' or an attempt to find a new clientele for our prison industrial complex.  

The GOP initiated (Bill Clinton signed) 1996 immigration law has to go, along with all the subsequent revisions and rulings that make this system draconian.  Not to mention the lack of well thought-out and fair immigration policy reform.  From what I know about this, Ted Kennedy's illness could be a huge setback for this effort.

Menendez introduces companion bill - medical care for immigrant detainees after news of 2 NJ deaths

by: kwilkinson

Tue May 13, 2008 at 01:21:35 AM EDT

The detainees are being held in county jails, private centers run by the Corrections Corporation of America, Wackenhut, etc. In learning about the recent death in Middlesex county jail and reading and writing about the appalling stories in the NY Times (resources page on the issue), I'm encouraged to see the Lofgren/Menendez legislation introduced (bolding mine).  

Menendez's quote:

We can never lose sight of the fact that everyone who immigrates to this country, whether they are documented or not, is a human being. A detention should never amount to a death sentence. This type of action to ensure humane treatment and prevent unnecessary deaths at these facilities is overdue. Let's not forget that many in immigration detention are there for minor violations, many for administrative errors. At some point, this becomes more than a legal issue - it becomes a human rights issue, and it is our job to do all we can to secure our country while protecting the dignity of all human beings.

Of course, it can be a long path from being introduced to becoming law, and I hope if the mechanisms for oversight are not in this bill, they will be put in place elsewhere.  

I'm finding it troubling that at the end of Lofgren's bill (and I haven't seen Menendez's version yet), it says:

`detention facility' means any Federal, State, or local facility used by the Secretary of Homeland Security to hold immigration detainees for more than 72 hours, regardless of whether use of such facility is subject to a contract or other agreement.

In looking at the existing contract that Middlesex County has with the federal govt, I can believe that there are places where no contract has been written. Since they are so piecemeal, it wouldn't surprise me if some fell through the cracks.  I'm no lawyer, but I would assume it's hard to enforce standards if there isn't a contract.  Maybe that is what Lofgren and her staff are addressing?

The overriding issue is, as even Chris Christie said recently, being in the country/state without papers is a civil offense.  It is not a crime.  Those awaiting deportation hearings should be not be detaineed unless absolutely necessary.  They should not be held in county jails with the same treatment as those with pending criminal charges, not that I think the latter are being treated fairly either, but that's another post.