Judge Finds Widespread Abuses in Immigration Detention

Court Cites Troubling Evidence That Asylum Seekers’ Rights Are Not Respected

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org

LOS ANGELES – In a nationwide review of legal rights for immigrants in federal detention, a federal judge has found serious violations of the government’s own standards relating to detention conditions.

U.S. District Court Judge Margaret M. Morrow examined never-before-released reports regarding conditions at more than 200 immigration detention facilities and found widespread problems, including lack of access to telephones, attorneys and legal materials, faced by thousands of immigrants seeking asylum or pursuing legitimate claims to legal residency. The court reviewed thousands of pages of government reports assessing conditions at facilities nationwide, as well as similar reports by a United Nations office and the American Bar Association. These reports showed that detained immigrants from all nations faced similar problems.

“The government’s treatment of immigrants betrays its promise of fairness and due process,” said Linton Joaquin of the National Immigration Law Center. “The government should not deprive immigrants in detention of basic due process rights, such as meeting with lawyers, reading law books, and making phone calls to family members.”

The judge’s findings came in a ruling, finalized on July 26, that upheld a nationwide injunction to protect Salvadoran immigrants seeking asylum in the U.S. The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Southern California and the National Immigration Law Center had opposed the government’s request to end the court-ordered injunction, which requires the government to treat people in immigration detention fairly.

Judge Morrow ruled that substantial evidence showed “a significant number of violations of critical provisions of the injunction dealing with detainees’ access to legal materials, telephone use and attorney visits.” The court also found that despite the end of the civil war in that country, immigrants from El Salvador continue to have legitimate asylum claims, and that they, like all immigrants, must be provided basic due process.

The ruling follows recent reports by the Department of Homeland Security inspector general and the Government Accountability Office showing similar problems in immigration detention.

“What’s happening to immigrants in detention should disturb all of us,” said ACLU of Southern California staff attorney Ranjana Natarajan. “People seeking America’s protection from torture and persecution deserve a fair hearing and respect for their basic rights.”

The legal team for the asylum seekers include Joaquin and Karen Tumlin of the National Immigration Law Center, Natarajan and Mark Rosenbaum of the ACLU of Southern California, and Lucas Guttentag, Judy Rabinovitz, Jennifer Chang and Monica Ramirez of the national ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project.

The court decision is online at:
http://www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/arrestdet/Orantes_amended_
order_re_injunction.pdf