Blog of Rights

Azadeh N.
Shahshahani

The Reality of Life Inside Immigration Detention

By Azadeh N. Shahshahani, ACLU Foundation of Georgia at 5:18pm

In the last 15 years, we've witnessed a dramatic expansion in the jailing of immigrants, from about 70,000 people detained annually to about 400,000.  In the mid-1990’s, during the height of an anti-immigrant backlash, Congress passed a series of harsh measures that led to a vast increase in unnecessary detention. This trend has been exacerbated by the private prison industry and county jails looking to exploit immigrant detention for profit.

Prisoners of Profit: Immigrants and Detention in Georgia

By Azadeh N. Shahshahani, ACLU Foundation of Georgia at 12:17pm

The ACLU of Georgia recently released a comprehensive report on conditions of detention for immigrants in Georgia, three of which are operated by for-profit corporations and one of which, the Stewart Detention Center, is the largest immigration detention facility in the country.

For purposes of this documentation project, the ACLU of Georgia interviewed 68 individuals who were detained at the Georgia immigration detention facilities, as well as detainees' family members and immigration attorneys. We also toured the detention centers and reviewed documents obtained from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies. The findings in “Prisoners of Profit: Immigrants and Detention in Georgia” raise serious concerns about violations of detainees’ due process rights, inadequate living conditions, inadequate medical and mental health care, and abuse of power by those in charge.

Standing Up for Your Faith Could Get You Arrested in Douglasville, Georgia

By Azadeh N. Shahshahani, ACLU Foundation of Georgia at 12:23pm

Yesterday, I joined Lisa Valentine in front of the Douglasville Municipal Courthouse to announce a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and the ACLU of Georgia on her behalf.

This was the same courthouse that Mrs. Valentine attempted to enter in December 2008 to accompany her nephew to his traffic hearing, only to be arrested and jailed for standing up for her right to wear a head covering according to her practice of her Muslim faith. "When we started out for the courthouse that morning, I had no idea I was in for the most humiliating and shocking day of my life," said Mrs. Valentine.

Georgia: Don’t Allow Extremism to Highjack Good Fixes to Immigration Bill

By Azadeh N. Shahshahani, ACLU Foundation of Georgia at 4:39pm

Two years ago, Georgia passed one of the most stringent immigration laws in the country, House Bill 87. Both supporters and opponents of the bill now agree that it has a major flaw which needs to be fixed quickly. As written, the law subjects U.S. citizens renewing a professional license to months of delay, costing many of them their jobs and livelihood.

Legislators from both sides of the aisle wisely pledged to work together to do away with this unacceptable consequence. Straightforward, fix-it bills were introduced in the state House and Senate. Unfortunately, a few legislators have pushed for last-minute changes to the bills, sending them in a completely different direction. The changes threaten to embroil Georgia into another protracted and rancorous debate.

Newest Anti-Immigrant Law Will Further Damage Georgia

By Azadeh N. Shahshahani, ACLU Foundation of Georgia & Jonathan Blazer, ACLU at 1:44pm

Just when it seemed that Georgia was coming to grips with the damage caused by H.B. 87, the state's Arizona-inspired anti-immigrant law, some lawmakers are again attempting to rush through new measures that would further marginalize and exclude immigrants from our community.

Religious Freedom an Unkept Vow in U.S.

By Azadeh N. Shahshahani, ACLU Foundation of Georgia at 2:32pm

(A version of this article originally appeared on AJC.com)

I have been watching with interest and apprehension the movement reverberating in my birthplace over the past few weeks. The cries of “Azadi” by the people who have poured out in the tens of thousands into the streets to demand greater freedom have defied the distance between us.

License to Abuse? Time for Bureau of Prisons to Sever Ties with CCA

By Azadeh N. Shahshahani, ACLU Foundation of Georgia at 6:08pm

In 2009, a 39-year-old detainee at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, died after a heart infection was allegedly allowed to go untreated. Stewart, the largest immigration detention center in the country, is owned by the Corrections Corporation of American (CCA), which also manages four other facilities in Georgia.

Georgia “Show Me Your Papers” Legislation Will Endanger Survivors of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault

By Azadeh N. Shahshahani, ACLU Foundation of Georgia at 2:06pm

April is Sexual Assault Awareness month. In observation, Georgia lawmakers should reject legislation that attacks immigrant women, including H.B. 87, a bill currently pending in the Georgia legislature that is a copycat of Arizona's S.B. 1070 racial profiling law. H.B. 87 would endanger victims of domestic violence and sexual assault by creating more fear and distrust of local law enforcement in communities across the state, much like 287(g) has done. Similar to 287(g) agreements, which are agreements between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local police/sheriff departments, H.B. 87 would charge local law enforcement with enforcing federal immigration law.

Private Prisons for Immigrants Lack Accountability, Oversight

By Azadeh N. Shahshahani, ACLU Foundation of Georgia at 3:43pm

(Originally posted on AJC.com)

On March 11, a 39-year-old man held in detention at the Stewart Detention Center, a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in southwest Georgia, died at a hospital in Columbus.

To this day, the immediate cause of Roberto Martinez Medina’s death remains unclear (a press release pronounced the cause of death as “apparent natural causes”).

Time to Reckon with Torture

By Azadeh N. Shahshahani, ACLU Foundation of Georgia at 3:53pm

(Originally posted at the Daily Report.)

This past February, I was at a hearing in the Georgia House Defense & Veterans Affairs Committee to testify against a measure that would have had the effect of keeping the prison at Guantánamo Bay open by urging Congress to prohibit the transfer of Guantánamo detainees to the United States. I read a statement to the committee issued by prominent experts on national security and counterterrorism detailing how keeping Gitmo open endangers U.S. national security. In response, one of the committee members, Rep. Burke Day, stated that not only would he not vote against the measure, but that he would further amend it to clarify that the men held at Guantánamo be subjected to "waterboarding, skate boarding, surf boarding, whatever." The fact that a state legislator would make light of torture was shocking enough. I was further taken aback that no legislator present for the hearing that day expressed outrage over the remarks.

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