The Department of Homeland Security assumes that mass detention is the key to immigration enforcement. But in fact, our detention system locks up thousands of immigrants unnecessarily every year, exposing detainees to brutal and inhumane conditions of confinement at massive costs to American taxpayers. Throughout the next two weeks, check back daily for posts about the costs of immigration detention, both human and fiscal, and what needs to be done to ensure fair and humane policy.
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report, "Immigration and Customs Enforcement Policies and Procedures Related to Detainee Transfers." (PDF) Undertaken at the request of several immigrants' rights organizations including the ACLU, the report found that the haphazard transferring of immigrants in detention has led to widespread errors and confusion, including the transfer of detainees who are never told why they are being held and who should have been eligible for release on bond.
On Thursday, I observed proceedings in the case of Mohammed Kamin, an Afghan detainee who has been held for more than five years, first in Bagram and then in Guantánamo. Kamin faces possible life in prison on charges that he "provided material support for terrorism by receiving arms training at an Al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan for several months in 2003." Because Kamin is boycotting his hearing, the proceedings were held in his absence.
On Wednesday, I observed two hearings: the first was in the case of Omar Khadr, the young Canadian who was arrested at the age of 15 and has been detained now for more than six years. The second was the arraignment of Ahmed Ghailani, who has been charged in connection with the 1998 Tanzanian bombings, and was one of about 14 men now at Guantánamo who were subjected to the CIA's secret interrogation and detention program.
