Programs
In October 2007 and October 2008, the Women’s Refugee Commission testified with partners before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and requested that IACHR investigate conditions and treatment of migrants at U.S. immigration detention facilities.
In response, the Rapporteurship on the Rights of Migrant Workers and their Families of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has completed a week of visits to U.S. immigration detention facilities in Arizona and Texas. The Delegation visited the T.Don Hutto facility, two children’s facilities and several adult facilities.
Read the press release with some initial findings released by the IACHR Rapporteurship concluding that, notwithstanding some positive recent adjustments, many men, women and children in United States immigration detention are held in unacceptable conditions, and the right of these persons to due process remains, in many cases, compromised.
When the Women's Refugee Commission spoke at an IACHR hearing on U.S. detention of immigrants and asylum seekers in 2007, this was the first time the Human Rights Commission had held a hearing on the policy and practice of immigration detention. This unprecedented hearing came at a critical time as the U.S. Government was increasing its use of immigration detention and immigration policies have entered the national debate.
Advocates discussed the government’s detention and deportation practices that violate the human rights of immigrants in America. They discussed how the U.S. detention and immigration enforcement system does not provide adequate protection for the human rights of immigrants and refugee children; the inhumane conditions of immigration detention centers; and the impact of U.S. immigration detention and enforcement policies on refugees and asylum seekers.
Testimony: Michelle Brané , Women's Refugee Commission
Testimony: Christopher Nugent, Holland and Knight, pro bono counsel for the Women's Refugee Commission
Testimony: Kerri Sherlock, Rights Working Group
Following the hearing, the President of the Commission, Dr. Florentín Meléndez, "wishes to recognize as a positive step the fact that representatives of the government of the United States confirmed publicly that there would be no problem with the Inter-American Commission visiting any immigration detention facilities it chooses." Read IACHR's October 19, 2007 press release on its conclusion of its 130th regular session.
Background Materials
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INDEX
EXHIBIT A "Whose Children are These? Towards Ensuring the Best Interest and Empowerment of Unaccompanied Alien Children," Law Review Article by Christopher Nugent, Holland & Knight.
EXHIBIT B "Unaccompanied Immigrant Minors Face Major Consequences," Hernán Rozemberg, San Antonio Express-News, September 4, 2007
EXHIBIT C Information regarding unaccompanied children detained by Customs and Border Enforcement, letters and information collected by Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project
EXHIBIT D Executive Office of Immigration Review Fact Sheet on Unaccompanied Children
EXHIBIT E Family Detention report, "Locking Up Family Values: The Detention of Immigrant Families," February 2007, Women's Refugee Commission and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
EXHIBIT F "Don T. Hutto Family Detention Center" Settlement Agreement
EXHIBIT G Women's Refugee Commission, Press Release regarding settlement agreement
EXHIBIT H "Freedom for the Children," Lisa Falkenberg, Houston Chronicle, August 31, 2007
EXHIBIT I "Conditions of Confinement in Immigration Detention Facilities," by Sunita Patel and Tom Jawitz
EXHIBIT J Relevant U.S. Congressional Appropriations Language for 2008: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3
