UK Immigration - Detainees held too long

UK - Immigration detainees held for 'excessively long' periods – watchdog

Harmondsworth under spotlight for holding detainees as long as three years at a cost of £110 a night, says IMB report

• Alan Travis, home affairs editor
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 17 June 2011 14.19 BST
• London Guardian

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Ministers have been warned by an official immigration watchdog of the "excessively long" periods, including cases of more than three years, that detainees are being held at Europe's largest removal centre.

A "snapshot" taken last December showed that 35 detainees at Harmondsworth removal centre, near Heathrow airport, had been waiting more than 12 months to be deported, including seven who had been waiting more than two years.
Harmondsworth's officially appointed independent monitoring board (IMB) said one man had been held in detention for three years and seven months at a cost of £110 a night. The bill is already more than £144,000.

"This is not only emotionally costly to detainees but expensive for the taxpayer," says the IMB's annual report to the immigration minister, Damian Green. It adds that the latest national figures show that as of 3 March, 170 detainees around the country have been held more than two years waiting for their removal....more

The Emotional Brutality of Deportations

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New Video Unmasks the "Hidden System" of Federal Deportations
by Marisa Trevino
Huffington Post
Posted July 30, 2008 | 12:11 PM (EST)

...had it not been for the conscience-stricken federal interpreter who came forward to reveal how the federal government railroaded these undocumented workers into deportation, the height of the injustice of the system would not have been brought to light.

Nor would it have stirred the interests of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who visited with Postville immigrant families this past Saturday and will be holding a press conference tomorrow in Washington, D.C. to unveil the results of their fact-finding mission, and to voice a special request of Congress on behalf of the families left behind from the raid who are struggling on a daily basis to live.

The secretive and isolationist nature of how the federal government conducts deportations and immigrant detentions naturally lends itself to abuse of the system and the erosion of human rights. By failing to make the process transparent -- from blocking out the windows on the buses transporting apprehended immigrants and denying due process of law, to depriving families of personal contact with detainees -- the government is creating a hidden system.

It is precisely that concept of "A Hidden System" that is the title of a new video by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR). Documenting the practices and impact of this federal policy that is part of an overall broken immigration system, the video achieves in spotlighting a department of the government that critics of illegal immigration hail as working perfectly.

However, as the video shows, the impact of these enforcement practices creates an undue emotional and physical hardship on families and children that must be seen to be believed.

for link to article click here

Sen. Menendez Speaks the Truth About ICE part I

In a riveting speech on the senate floor on Wednesday, June 11, 2008, Senator Robert Menendez openly discussed the multiple abuses perpetrated by the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This is the first time that any senator or representative has made such detailed and public condemnation of how ICE has been continually defying the U.S. Constitution in its frantic effort to deport all the undocumented immigrants it can find.

The information he provided his fellow senators sounded like something from a bad horror movie, yet it was a federal agency that has committed these atrocities. No major U.S. newspaper has carried the story. Only the Record North Jersey thought it was important enough.

Below is the video showing the first half of Menendez's June 11th speech to the Senate on immigration.



thanks to A.P. for passing this along

ICE is doing well in Austin

click for photo

-Austin has changed. People from ICE are always looking around, hoping someone picked up by the Travis County Sheriff or some other law enforcement officer - will turn out to be undocumented.
Interesting how Texas' most liberal city has turned into a police state.

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IMMIGRATION

More illegal immigrants are being charged criminally in Austin

Prison time comes before deportation for some.

By Steven Kreytak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, May 28, 2008

His mother had suffered a stroke, and his family needed money. So even though he had been deported once from the United States last year, Edgar Rodriguez-Sarmiento left his home in a rural Honduran village, paid a smuggler $2,000 to get him across the border and sought work while living in an Austin apartment off East Riverside Drive in January, according to court documents and his lawyer.

Six weeks later, Rodriguez was arrested on public intoxication charges and brought to the Travis County Jail. He was tagged by immigration agents and became enmeshed in a federal effort to charge even those with minor or no criminal history with the crime of re-entering the U.S. after deportation, a felony.

The effort, part of a nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration, has led to a surge in the number of undocumented immigrants in Austin who are being hit with a felony conviction, and sometimes sent to prison, before being deported.

The practice has been criticized by immigrant advocates and defense lawyers, who call it a waste of resources...

A recent report by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse said the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency had filed 8,064 cases nationwide in February, a 43.8 percent increase compared with February 2007.

"There's a strong push to enforce the immigration laws and to be more aggressive," Sutton said. "Criminal illegal aliens are being prosecuted where maybe sometimes in the past they weren't."

Until two years ago, Sutton's office had a long-standing practice of prosecuting for illegal re-entry only immigrants who had previously committed an aggravated felony, such as rape, burglary or drug trafficking, or who had been deported and re-entered the country numerous times. The 2006 increase in cases against some immigrants with minor or no criminal histories appeared to be part of a national crackdown. But Sutton said at the time that there wouldn't be a sustained increase in those cases. There wasn't, until this year.

Adrian Ramirez, a San Antonio-based assistant field director for ICE's detention and removal division, said things changed in December or January after agency officials met with federal prosecutors in Washington. After that meeting, Ramirez said, agents were told to bring the cases of any immigrant who had been previously deported, even if they had no significant criminal history, to the U.S. attorney's office, which had agreed to prosecute them.

"They wanted a big push on that," Ramirez said. "Prosecution is a deterrent, especially for people who have already had an opportunity to be here, were deported and came back."

Ramirez oversees immigration agents who look for undocumented immigrants in prison and jails, including the Travis County Jail, where the increased presence of immigration agents this year has drawn protests in Austin.

ICE officials have said that from January 1 through March 31, the agency placed 763 immigration holds on inmates at the Travis County Jail — an almost 400 percent increase from the same period last year. That means that after the cases of those inmates are adjudicated, ICE is contacted to take possession of the person. Most are deported immediately, Ramirez said. The ones who have previously been deported are referred to the U.S. attorney's office, which prosecutes them in federal court...

for complete Statesman article click here

59 arrested in Virginia - call 866 341-3858 for info. on their whereabouts

Photo of Loudon detainees provided to the WP by ICE

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cover my face in shame
to lessen your fear
that I may swallow you whole
and leave no trace
of what you once thought was yours

cover my face in shame
for you
cannot admit
you have been unjust

and for my people
who have been
shamed with me


© by aughra, all rights reserved 2008
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59 Workers at Loudoun Resort Face Deportation

Immigration Officials Say Employees Used Fraudulent or Stolen Documents to Get Jobs

By Jonathan Mummolo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 13, 2008; C01

Fifty-nine foreign-born workers arrested last week at the Lansdowne Resort by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are being processed for deportation, although some might request hearings to plead their cases, an ICE spokeswoman said.

The employees -- men and women from El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Bolivia, Peru and Argentina -- were arrested Tuesday on charges of having used fraudulent or stolen documents to get jobs at the upscale resort on Woodridge Parkway near Leesburg.

Several calls to Lansdowne Resort officials last week were not returned. ICE spokeswoman Ernestine Fobbs declined to comment on whether ICE officials think the resort was aware of the document problems when it hired the workers. She said operators of the resort have cooperated with the federal agency since the investigation began in July.

"There's no criminal charges on the organization at this time . . . but this is an ongoing investigation," Fobbs said.

The probe was triggered by a "routine inspection of all I-9 employment forms at the resort," according to a written statement from ICE. "Through expert analysis of the I-9 forms, ICE agents identified information that led them to suspect that many of the employees were using fraudulent documents or had stolen someone else's identity to secure employment at the resort."

Many workers remained in custody in various jails last week, said Fobbs, who would not elaborate on the jail locations, citing "privacy reasons." ICE released two women Tuesday for medical reasons, but their cases continued to be processed, she said.

Fobbs said some of the workers will be deported immediately, and others might request a hearing with a judge, so the time it takes to process cases will vary.

"The removal process is just that: a process," she said. "Some may be subject to be removed from the United States immediately. Some may choose to go before an immigration judge. . . . It's like anything else. If you have a traffic violation, you can say, 'Wait, look, I have a reason for this.' "

Workers could be released early if they have children to look after, among other reasons, although they would be electronically monitored, and their ultimate fate would be determined by a judge, Fobbs said...

"They're terrified," said Elinor Tesfamariam, a lawyer with Immigration and Human Rights Law Group in Manassas, referring to relatives of those arrested. Her organization is working with the group Mexicans Without Borders to assist the detainees. "I have a man who is 70 years old" and in poor health at one of the jails, she said.

Other immigrant advocates said the process of locating those in custody has been difficult because ICE is not keeping them in a central location.

"Literally, people need to call each detention center to try to find people," said Kathy Doan, executive director of the Capital Area Immigrants' Rights Coalition.

Fobbs said family members and friends looking for information on those in custody could call 866-341-3858.

for link to entire WP article click the title of this post

photo: http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2008/04/12/PH2008041200055.jpg

Is there ever a right way to deport people?

The LA Times has published an editorial that is announcing there is actually such a thing as a "perfect immigration raid."

It also criticizes advocates who continue to speak against the raids: outraged immigration activists picketed ICE's downtown intake station

Like there is something wrong with being outraged.

Its a confusing environment. I had to fly to Washington, D.C. this morning. On way to the airport I saw a number of billboards in Spanish. I even saw one that was bi-lingual. Houston is full of Fiesta Stores - geared towards the Latino population. Clear Channel communications which owns many English language stations in the U.S. also owns a good share of those that broadcast in Spanish.

ICE does not check undocumented immigrants in the check out line at Walmart, Target, or Home Depot. It is ok to take in money from people that according to some, aren't supposed to be here. Yes, these same millions that are helping keep our economy afloat can drive outside the Walmart parking lot, get speeding tickets, or be fined for not making a complete stop at the red light or stop sign - and in a whiff they are on their way back to their countries of origin. In other words, the U.S. is telling them - give me your money - be a good consumer - but don't be surprised if we pick up your neighbor, or brother in law, or your wife - because it's ok for people without residency papers to spend money in the U.S. but its not ok for the same people to live here.

p.s. detaining and/or deporting people is never a humanitarian act - no matter how it is carried out. Remember the arguments that some people were "good slave owners?" - making bondage less objectionable - many people have responded to this saying bondage is never ok, even with a nice master.



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The right kind of immigration raid

Law enforcement and immigrant advocates are working together to make for kinder crackdowns.
April 3, 2008

Before U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took 144 men and women into custody at Micro Solutions Enterprises in Van Nuys a few weeks ago, the agency sent advance notice to civil rights groups. It put social service agencies on standby in case children whose parents were detained needed help. Once the suspected illegal immigrants were identified, ICE agents asked if they had chronic health conditions, child-care issues or other urgent personal situations. Those who did were released and given an order to appear in court at a later date. Lastly, ICE handed out a list of attorneys who would take cases pro bono.

It should have been the perfect immigration raid -- considerate, humanitarian, efficient, the agency's standard since the debacle in New Bedford, Mass., last year when children, including a breast-feeding baby, suffered when their parents were taken away for days. But the Van Nuys action still resulted in a lawsuit -- which led to progress. Lawyers waiting to assist the immigrants filed an injunction against ICE after they were stopped from accompanying the immigrants to interviews, a clear violation of the constitutional right to representation. ICE settled the suit several days ago, and since then attorney access has been smoother.

This is the reform of immigration enforcement far from the halls of Congress. It is being cobbled together bit by bit, with compromises, cooperation and confrontation by naturally opposing forces -- those charged with enforcing the law and deporting illegal immigrants and those who advocate on their behalf.

Tuesday afternoon, outraged immigration activists picketed ICE's downtown intake station, protesting the detention of about 30 suspected illegal immigrants taken in what they believed were "raids" on warehouses. Even a well-conducted raid is a hypocrisy, they said, illustrating contradictions between immigration enforcement policies and immigration law: A humane raid would not separate mothers from their young children for a long time, but the law allows the harsher separation of deportation.

It turns out, however, that the people picked up Tuesday were taken in routine port customs security inspections of freight warehouses. Those businesses have to comply with a lengthy list of security requirements, one of which is to not hire illegal immigrants, who are particular security risks because their status makes them vulnerable to coercion. All reasonable. So Wednesday morning, immigration advocates and ICE officials were on the phone together, examining and clarifying Tuesday's events -- and preparing for the next time.

for link to LAT article click the title of this post