Publishing Institution: Human Rights First / Topic: Immigration

Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Human Rights First
Abstract:: Over the last few years there has been a sharp increase in the number of asylum seekers detained in “expedited removal” along the U.S. southern border who have expressed a fear of return to their home countries. The overwhelming majority of these people are from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. A rise in murders, rape, violence against women, kidnappings, extortion, and other brutality in these countries, which varies due to the particular conditions in each country—fueled by political instability, economic insecurity, breakdown of the rule of law, and the dominance of local and transnational gangs—is prompting many people to flee their homes.
Topic:: Security, Political Violence, Crime, and Immigration
Political Geography:: United States, America, and North America

Publication Date:: 12-2012
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Human Rights First
Abstract:: The Obama Administration, as it embarks on its second term, should reaffirm U.S. leadership on the protection of refugees by repairing flaws in the U.S. asylum and resettlement systems. Many of these flaws have persisted for years, undermining U.S. leadership and leaving refugees in difficult and vulnerable situations. The White House should lead this effort and launch stronger mechanisms to safeguard protection throughout U.S. agencies. The administration should also look for opportunities to move some of these repairs forward in concert with broader immigration reform initiatives.
Topic:: Human Rights, Immigration, and Governance
Political Geography:: United States

Publication Date:: 12-2012
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Human Rights First
Abstract:: As the Obama Administration embarks on its second term and recommits itself to immigration reform, it should prioritize its commitment to transform the immigration detention system . In 2009, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) committed to overhaul the U.S. immigration detention system and shift it away from its longtime reliance on jails and jail-like facilities. Since that time, ICE has taken steps to address some of the problems in the existing system. It has, for example, hired onsite detention service managers to improve oversight, implemented new parole guidance for arriving asylum seekers, and streamlined the process for detainee health care treatment authorization. It has also taken a number of steps towards a broader transformation of the system, such as opening a “model” civil detention facility in Karnes County, Texas, that offers conditions more appropriate for immigration detainees.
Topic:: Immigration, Governance, Law Enforcement, Law, and Reform
Political Geography:: United States

Publication Date:: 10-2011
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Human Rights First
Abstract:: Two years ago, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) committed to transform the U.S. immigration detention system by shifting it away from its longtime reliance on jails and jail-like facilities, to facilities with conditions more appropriate for the detention of civil immigration law detainees. At the time of these commitments, in announcements in August and October of 2009, DHS and ICE recognized that detention beds were in facilities that were "largely designed for penal, not civil, detention." In fact, many criminal correctional facilities actually offer less restrictive conditions than those typically found in immigration detention facilities, and corrections experts have confirmed that less restrictive conditions can help ensure safety in a secure facility. DHS and ICE have consistently affirmed intentions to carry out the planned reforms in a budget-neutral way.
Topic:: Immigration and Prisons/Penal Systems
Political Geography:: United States

Author:: Anwen Hughes
Publication Date:: 11-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Human Rights First
Abstract:: IMMIGRATION LAWS that target individuals who have engaged in or supported the commission of terrorist acts serve two very legitimate goals: to exclude from the United States people who threaten our national security, and to penalize people who have engaged in or supported acts of violence that are inherently wrongful and condemned under U.S. and international law. Both of these purposes are consistent with the United States' commitment to protect refugees who have fled political, religious and other forms of persecution. Indeed, the 1951 Refugee Convention and its Protocol explicitly exclude from protection persons who have committed a range of serious crimes, including acts of terrorism. The Refugee Convention also allows a country to expel a refugee who poses a danger to its security, or who has been convicted of a particularly serious crime in that country and constitutes a danger to the community.
Topic:: Human Rights, Terrorism, Immigration, and Law
Political Geography:: United States

Author:: Eleanor Acer and Jessica Chicco
Publication Date:: 06-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Human Rights First
Abstract:: IN MARCH 2003 , the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) took over responsibility for asylum and immigration matters when the former INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) was abolished. With this transfer, DHS was entrusted with the duty to ensure that the United States lives up to its commitments to those who seek asylum from persecution. These commitments stem from both U.S. law and international treaties with which the United States has pledged to abide. Yet, those who seek asylum—a form of protection extended to victims of political, religious and other forms of persecution—have been swept up in a wave of increased immigration detention, which has left many asylum seekers in jails and jail-like facilities for months or even years.
Topic:: Human Rights and Immigration
Political Geography:: United States

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