Programs Detention & Asylum
A survivor of domestic abuse who feared for her life, Maria* fled her home in Guatemala to seek refuge in the United States. Over the course of her determined attempt to find a life free of violence, Maria was raped and beaten by her coyote guide, thrown to the ground by a U.S. border patrol officer, jailed with no food or water and returned to Mexico. She crossed the border four times before being detained at a facility in Arizona, where she is waiting for a verdict on her application for asylum as a survivor of domestic violence. When we met Maria in June of 2010 she was being held, indefinitely, in a facility fit for criminal prisoners.
Today, the U.S. is in a unique position. How it responds to this crisis will have an enormous impact on how other countries treat asylum seekers. At the same time, there is much that the U.S. could learn from other detention models being used internationally.
The Detention and Asylum Program is working to shape and reform international policy on detention at the highest levels. In collaboration with international partners, we are raising awareness about immigration detention and pushing for reforms that would institutionalize policies and procedures to protect vulnerable migrant women and children seeking asylum.
*Names have been changed to protect women and children
