Secure and Safe Detention and Asylum Act Reintroduced; Opportunity to Fix Shameful Detention System

Members of the U.S. Congress have a significant opportunity to restore decency and end the human rights violations inside immigrant detention centers in the United States by supporting the Secure and Safe Detention and Asylum Act, S. 3114, reintroduced today by Senators Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska.

The National Immigrant Justice Center has joined a broad coalition of 54 faith-based, human rights, and community organizations in a letter of support.

In the past month, several media outlets have detailed the dismal state of the immigrant detention system in the United States. From government documents and interviews with former detainees and their families, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and 60 Minutes have reported stories of medical neglect, unreported deaths and suicides, forced sedation of detainees by immigration officers, and a severe lack of resources for doctors and nurses working inside immigrant detention facilities.

Now armed with hundreds of pages of evidence, the time has come for Congress to restore and protect the basic human rights of the 311,000 men, women, and children held in the detention system every year. The Secure and Safe Detention and Asylum Act calls for improved detention conditions and better oversight of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities. Additionally, it would allow immigration judges to review the cases of asylum seekers and release those individuals who pose no threat to society.

According to a press release from the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Secure and Save Detention and Asylum Act would:

• Mandate improved detention conditions, including prompt medical care that complies with accreditation requirements, unobstructed access to legal counsel, limits on the use of solitary confinement and other punitive treatment, and special standards for families and for victims of persecution and torture.
• Substantially enhance the rights of asylum seekers and others to have their detentions reviewed promptly by an immigration judge and to be considered for release if they pose no risk to public safety.
• Enhance alternatives to detention such as supervised release programs.
• Require the recording of interviews with detained asylum seekers and other quality assurance measures to ensure these individuals are not erroneously returned to countries where they fear persecution.
• Establish an Office of Detention Oversight within the Department of Homeland Security to audit and investigate detention facilities' compliance with standards and to report to Congress.
• Mandate the reporting and investigation of all deaths that occur in detention facilities.

The Secure and Safe Detention and Asylum Act was debated in Congress in 2006 and 2007, when it was included in immigration reform legislation. The act passed the Senate last year as an amendment to the wider comprehensive immigration reform bill that was not enacted.

The National Immigrant Justice, a partner of Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights, provides direct legal services to and advocates for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers through policy reform, impact litigation, and public education.