What's Up with Immigration in the 112th Congress?

The rhetoric throughout many congressional campaigns was hot. Some of the newly elected members of the House committed to an agenda that would reduce the number of immigrants – both legal and illegal – and send packing all those who are here illegally. Will those campaign promises define the agenda of the 112^th Congress?

Probably not.

Democrats and Republicans – and indeed most people around the country – seem to agree on one central fact: our immigration system is broken. Families are broken up by the multi-year waiting lines for legal immigration – employers of both skilled and unskilled workers have difficulty finding that one particular scientist to fit in a research team, or teams of seasonal workers to harvest crops and serve tourists.

Meanwhile, many employers of workers who entered or stayed in the country illegally are able to take advantage of their workers’ status by offering low pay, demanding long hours, and maintaining unsafe working conditions. The ability of these employers to undercut wage, hour, and safety laws drags down the pay and benefits of other workers on the same rung of the employment ladder, including those born in the U.S. The system is broken – it needs to be fixed.

The disagreement comes in describing the fix. Should the objective be to seal off the country, scan the documents of every person within U.S. borders, and deport all those who don’t make the cut? Should the objective be to re-examine U.S. relations with our neighbors to the South, to determine the extent to which NAFTA and other trade agreements and practices have contributed to the pressures for immigration northward? Should the objective be to address the practical problems in the immigration system itself, to repair what can be repaired?

The new Congress will probably land somewhere in that third objective – fix what needs to be fixed. Which begs the question: what needs to be fixed? FCNL has urged that the legal immigration itself be repaired, to reduce the long lines for visas, to re-unite families and to reduce the pressure for immigration outside the legal system. At the same time, FCNL has encouraged enforcement of wage, hour and safety laws in all places of employment, regardless of the legal status of the workers there. If employers are

(1) able to find workers (fix the legal system) and

(2) unable to

• pay their workers less than minimum wage, or
• forego paying them at all, or
• require more than forty hours of work without overtime pay, or
• require work in unsafe conditions

then the employers’ incentive to reach beyond available U.S. workers to find “imported labor” evaporates. Enforcement of existing “worker protection” laws levels the playing field.

Rep. Lamar Smith, the new chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has said that his priorities for immigration will center on job creation and job protection. He will focus on workplace enforcement, consider an expansion of the E-Verify program, and step up enforcement of requirements on employers to hire only workers with appropriate documentation. (The E-Verify program is a digital system that would permit employers to check Social Security records immediately to determine whether a job applicant has a valid Social Security number. FCNL and others have opposed broad implementation of the program because of the high incidence of errors in Social Security records, and the fact that most of those errors occur with non-European names.)

Most immigration bills – and indeed, several other bills – in the past several years have included increased and intensified border enforcement. Now that the military and detention industries have entered that arena, it is reasonable to expect that there will be continued upward pressure for more detention space (offered by contractor Corrections Corporation of America) and more military-style hardware and technology at the border (offered by the major weapons manufacturers.) Spending for border security will likely be exempted from concerns about deficit spending, as the Department of Homeland Security is usually lumped in with the Pentagon in the rhetoric about cutting all discretionary spending – except for “security spending.”

One important signal about the coming agenda is the appointment of Rep. Elton Gallegley of California as the chair of the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration. Firebrand Steve King of Iowa was in line for the post and was widely rumored to be the next subcommittee chair; but Chairman Smith chose a more moderate member, one who has not been a prime champion of some of the more extreme rhetorical demands, such as ending birthright citizenship.

Can we expect anything that will actually fix the system? President Obama, meeting with the leadership of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said he would address immigration reform in the State of the Union address. He still wants to seek reforms in the immigration system. The nation needs answers to current problems such as the millions of people living in the U.S. now without appropriate documentation. Rational solutions to that problem and others may be proposed – but they will very likely be coupled (as they have been in the past) with increased border enforcement and employer-based enforcement.

Will the Dream Act resurface? Possibly, in a modified form. Some of the modifications introduced late in the debate last year already severely limited any financial assistance that non-citizen students might receive under the act – those limitations, at least, would return. A more worrisome development would be the elimination of the education option entirely. Military recruiters still strongly support the bill, and would not be unhappy to see the education path eliminated.

Quakers Welcome Next Steps on Immigration Reform, Call for Humane Enforcement

On Thursday, April 29, Senators Reid (NV), Schumer (NY), Menendez (NJ), Durbin (IL) and Feinstein (CA) introduced a 26-page proposal for bipartisan legislation on immigration reform. Their hope is to start a conversation with key Republicans to craft a viable bill that could be brought to a vote this year.

FCNL has released a statement in response to the proposal. We look forward to working with Congress and the administration to enact bipartisan legislation that would restore integrity to the U.S. tradition of welcoming immigrants.

Senators Introduce Proposal for Immigration Reform, Call for Bipartisan Negotiations

On Thursday evening, Senators Reid (NV), Schumer (NY), Menendez (NJ), Durbin (IL), and Feinstein (CA) introduced a draft framework for immigration reform. The five senators appealed to their Republican colleagues to join them in negotiations to craft a bipartisan bill that could be brought to the floor for a vote.

I'd like to share with you one clip of the eloquent words spoken by Senator Menendez:

"We understand the history of not only this country, but the history of the world. When one group of people become a suspect class, when one group of people are blamed for all the ills of the nation, history has taught us that that has a sad ending. We cannot let that happen here in the greatest country on the face of the earth. It is not who we are as a people. It is not who we are as a nation... That's what is at stake here. This is not a partisan question. This is about the national security of the United States. It is about the national economy of this country. And it is ultimately the preservation of the Constitution - because when I can become a second-class citizen, there is a road in which you can become a second-class citizen. And that is not something we can accept."

You can watch the introduction of the framework on C-SPAN here.

In response, President Obama released a statement highlighting the urgent need for reform:

"What has become increasingly clear is that we can no longer wait to fix our broken immigration system, which Democrats and Republicans alike agree doesn’t work. It’s unacceptable to have 11 million people in the United States who are living here illegally and outside of the system... The next critical step is to iron out the details of a bill. We welcome that discussion, and my Administration will play an active role in engaging partners on both sides of the aisle to work toward a bipartisan solution that is based on the fundamental concept of accountability that the American people expect and deserve."

Senator Leahy (VT), the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, offered a comment on the proposal:

"I remain committed to meaningful comprehensive immigration reform... I hope the outline released today will encourage discussions across the aisle, and that they will lead to a bipartisan legislative proposal. All Americans are concerned with updating our immigration laws, fulfilling our labor needs, and addressing the escalating violence along our southern border. I hope we can come together to address these pressing matters."

Senator Graham (SC), who recently halted his efforts to work with Senator Schumer on draft legislation, released a statement with Senator Kyl (AZ) in opposition to the framework:

"Since 2007, threats have increased, some border technology has failed, and the American people have lost confidence in the federal government's ability to secure our borders. So it is our belief that Congress should focus on border security first and that will eventually allow Congress to seriously consider bipartisan immigration reform, instead of politically-motivated ‘conceptual papers.'"

FCNL's statement on the framework is forthcoming.

FCNL Joins More Than One Hundred Thousand Supporters to March for Immigration Reform

Change takes courage and faith. On Sunday, March 21st, more than 100,000 supporters of humane immigration reform gathered on the National Mall in Washington, DC, to send this urgent message to Congress. This rally, which attracted news coverage from New York to California, brought together people from all corners of the country to stand in solidarity for immigrants' rights.

From day laborers and union organizers, to children whose parents had been deported, to people of faith striving to welcome the stranger, to students whose lack of papers prevents them from attending college, all came together with one unified message: Immigration reform can't wait.

Recently we've seen President Obama meet with Senator Schumer (NY) and Senator Graham (SC) to discuss immigration reform. We've seen an op-ed outlining the bipartisan Senate bill, which has not yet been introduced. We've seen a Senator Reid commit to make time on the Senate floor for a debate on immigration reform. But we haven't yet seen the political will - the courage - to take the critical next step.

As Representative Gutierrez (IL) said at the rally, "Justice for immigrants cannot wait. It cannot be delayed because of the fears of politicians."

Now is the time for bold leadership. Now is the time for the introduction of a humane and just immigration reform bill in the Senate. Why? Because it's the right thing to do.

Couldn't make it to DC? Check out this video from Democracy Now. And take a look at these photos, taken by FCNL's Rebecca Sheff, of the many thousands of supporters who made the trek to DC for this historic day.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

In Our Community: Immigration News

Hello again and welcome to this week's edition of In Our Community: Immigration News. Here are highlights from Monday, February 15th to Monday, February 22nd. Grab a cup of coffee and happy reading!

Electoral calculations are starting already and politicians on both sides of the aisle are taking note of growing Hispanic voting power. The Hispanic population in the United States is the fastest growing voting demographic. In the upcoming 2010 elections, politicians are going to need to take seriously the demands and concerns of immigrant communities. Two articles (available here and here) indicate that, in order to win votes, conservatives may need to shift from cracking down on the border to supporting comprehensive immigration reform. Recent polling shows that 82% of Hispanics feel strongly about immigration reform.

The Interfaith Immigration Coalition, of which FCNL is a member, launched an immigration reform campaign last week by delivering hundreds of thousands of postcards to members of Congress. This article in the Miami Herald discusses why immigration reform is important to people of faith. As one faith leader says, "This is important to us Christians, not just because we are immigrants or sons or daughters of immigrants... We have been called to treat the foreigners among us justly and to love our neighbor.''

Protestors regularly gather outside the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma, WA, to protest the harsh treatment and unnecessary detention of immigrants at this jail-like facility. The NWDC has become one of the largest detention centers in the country. It holds about 1000 immigrant detainees at a time, the majority of which have never committed a crime and are being held for immigration violations only. FCNL supports alternatives to detention for these immigrants as they wait for their cases to be heard in immigration courts.

It is still not clear how the Department of Homeland Security defines "criminal alien," which is the term most commonly used for immigrants held in jail-like detention centers. Some say that an individual must be convicted of a crime to be considered a "criminal alien," while others say they just have to be accused of or suspected of a crime. If this is the measure by which enforcement programs are being justified, some clarity is urgently needed. In addition, reports show that the vast majority of immigrant detainees are noncriminal or have committed minor crimes, not the serious ones that you would be led to believe. For more information on how immigrants end up in detention, see two recent fact sheets - available here and here.

Think that areas with significant immigrant populations are more vulnerable to crime? Think again. This interesting article in The American Conservative sets the record straight, demonstrating that Hispanics have approximately the same crime rates as whites of the same age. Want to share this information with others? The Immigration Policy Center has a brief fact sheet breaking down the popular myth that immigrants are dangerous criminals.

Rep. Gutierrez Responds to State of the Union

Today, Representative Luis Gutierrez (IL), author of the CIR ASAP bill introduced in December in the House, wrote a powerful op-ed piece in the Huffington Post.

Rep. Gutierrez expressed concern that President Obama "did not go far enough for the four million American citizen children whose parents face deportation; the millions of Americans waiting to be reunited with loved ones overseas; hardworking Americans whose security is undermined in the workplace; women who are physically and sexually exploited on the floors of meatpacking plants; or the $1.5 trillion lacking from our Gross Domestic Product, all in the absence of real reform."

He argues, "Congress cannot wait for the President to lay out our timeline for comprehensive reform." His bill, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009, would fix the broken immigration system by keeping families together, allowing immigrants to integrate more fully into society, and protecting immigrants from detention.

To show to Congress that you support comprehensive immigration reform, urge your representative to co-sponsor CIR ASAP.

I'll leave you with one other quote from Rep. Gutierrez's article. He writes:

"They care that we do the job we've been elected to do. But if we walk away from the tough fights --like immigration reform-- because it's hard or because it's politically risky, we're not just writing our own political eulogy; we're sentencing millions of families to a life of injustice."

In State of the Union, President Cites Need to Fix Broken Immigration System

In his first State of the Union address, President Obama focused on the economy, job creation, financial regulatory reform, and health care reform. He called for an end to hyper-partisanship in Congress and, toward the end of his speech, identified domestic priorities including the need to "continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system." FCNL continues to work with Congress to advance immigration reform legislation.

The president also spoke more broadly of the need to value diversity. He stated, "Abroad, America's greatest source of strength has always been our ideals. The same is true at home. We find unity in our incredible diversity, drawing on the promise enshrined in our Constitution, the notion that we're all created equal, that no matter who you are or what you look like, if you abide by the law, you should be protected by it, if you adhere to our common values, you should be treated no different than anyone else." We hope that President Obama carries forward this commitment by resisting the temptation to resort to racial profiling in the name of national security.

In one of the last lines of the speech, he said: "I never suggested that change would be easy or that I could do it alone. Democracy in a nation of 300 million people can be noisy and messy and complicated. And when you try to do big things and make big changes, it stirs passions and controversy. That's just how it is." As we've worked on immigration reform over the past year, we've tried to counter impassioned, hateful rhetoric with civil dialogue and quiet witness. We saw that in our Breaking Bread and Barriers potlucks in the fall, and now we're asking you to join us again this February by organizing prayer vigils in your community.

These prayer vigils, in solidarity with our country's immigrants, send a clear message to Congress that we remain committed to immigration reform. In order to fix the broken system and restore dignity and rights for all, we need to stand together. Take a look at the Interfaith Immigration Coalition's prayer vigil organizing guide to start planning yours today.

TAKE ACTION: Urge Your Rep. To Support Humane and Fair Immigration Reform

Happy New Year! The turn of the year carries with it a new reason for hope - the chance for Congress to make good on its promise to humanely reform the broken immigration system. With the new year comes new opportunities for us to recommit ourselves to the struggle for justice.

On December 15, Representative Luis Gutierrez (IL) and 91 original cosponsors unveiled the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (H.R. 4321), which proposes reforms for the broken immigration system. The bill would promote family unity, bring undocumented immigrants out of the shadows, and uphold immigrants' human and civil rights.

Now it's your turn to act. Send a message to Congress urging your representative to support humane and fair immigration reform. Together we can make 2010 the year that Congress reforms the broken immigration system that disrupts the lives of so many each day.

Looking for more information? Take a look at FCNL's easy-to-read table outlining our position on the bill, or read our press release and blog post about the press conference announcing the bill. For the full text of the bill, click here. And don't forget to contact one or two friends and ask them to send their own letters of support!

Rep. Gutierrez Introduces Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity (CIR ASAP) Act of 2009

Today, Representative Luis Gutierrez (IL) and 87 original cosponsors introduced the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity (CIR ASAP) Act of 2009. This progressive comprehensive immigration reform bill identifies a number of workable solutions to humanely reform the broken immigration system. It is the first comprehensive immigration reform bill to be introduced this Congress.

I attended the press conference for the introduction of the bill and, let me tell you, the room was packed. Members of Congress, Congressional staff, members of the press, immigration advocates, faith leaders, and immigrants of all backgrounds crowded into the room, cheering "Yes we can!" The energy was fantastic. While a lot of work remains for us to achieve humane and fair comprehensive immigration reform, Rep. Gutierrez's bill offers important elements of reform.

Rep. Gutierrez described his bill as pro-family, pro-jobs, and pro-security. He said, "We've waited long enough. We've turned the other cheek... Now with this bill let's end the blame game and turn our immigrants into Americans." All the members of Congress who spoke echoed the sentiment that now is the time for comprehensive immigration reform.

Rep. Velazquez, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said, "I am standing here so proudly. I have never been so proud in my eighteen years in Congress. Never." She, like Rep. Gutierrez, believes that comprehensive immigration reform is urgently needed, saying, "There's no wrong or right time. There is a moral obligation."

Rep. Crowley, who along with 110 representatives sent a letter to President Obama earlier this year calling for immigration reform, spoke strongly about the need to restore the rights and dignity of all immigrants. He said, "End illegal immigration. Secure our borders. But don't dismiss for a moment the issue of dignity, the dignity of humankind."

FCNL congratulates Representative Gutierrez and the 87 original cosponsors of CIR ASAP for advancing the conversation on comprehensive immigration reform. We look forward to working with Representative Gutierrez and other members of Congress to achieve humane and fair comprehensive immigration reform in 2010.

CIR ASAP is endorsed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Its original cosponsors include members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Asian and Pacific American Caucus, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. For more information on the content of CIR ASAP, check out this section-by-section summary by the Immigration Policy Center.

In Our Community: Immigration News

Here it is, your immigration news from Monday, December 7 to Monday, December 14!

Very exciting news! Tomorrow, Representative Luis Gutierrez (IL) will introduce his progressive comprehensive immigration reform bill, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP). In a press statement released today, Representative Gutierrez said: "We have waited patiently for a workable solution to our immigration crisis to be taken up by this Congress and our President. The time for waiting is over. This bill will be presented before Congress recesses for the holidays so that there is no excuse for inaction in the New Year. It is the product of months of collaboration with civil rights advocates, labor organizations, and members of Congress. It is an answer to too many years of pain —mothers separated from their children, workers exploited and undermined security at the border— all caused at the hands of a broken immigration system. This bill says 'enough,' and presents a solution to our broken system that we as a nation of immigrants can be proud of." FCNL congratulates Representative Gutierrez on his bill and looks forward to working with him and other members of Congress toward humane and fair comprehensive immigration reform in 2010. Read this op-ed to learn why immigration reform is the "right stuff."

The introduction of Representative Gutierrez's bill comes at an important time, on the heels of a major raid in California that serves as a reminder of the urgent need for immigration reform. Nearly 300 immigrants were detained in this three-day raid and at least 100 have already been removed from the country. Meanwhile, advocates in New Jersey have been working tirelessly to keep Indonesian Christians in their community out of detention and state employees in Arizona are struggling to provide public services under new state requirements to report undocumented immigrants to ICE.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding an important hearing on December 16, "The Law of the Land: U.S. Implementation of Human Rights Treaties." This hearing, the first of its kind, will examine how the United States can fulfill its international obligations under human rights law. FCNL has submitted a statement for the record about our concerns regarding arbitrary and indefinite detention as well as the need for due process protections for detained immigrants.

An op-ed in the New York Times calls for "Coverage Without Borders," addressing the issue of access to health care for immigrants in the United States. A key quote: "It certainly does not help Americans as a whole to remain healthy when millions of people, including schoolchildren, cannot get basic preventive care like immunizations and medications." The Senate is expected to finish debating the health care bill by the end of the month and - hopefully - the final version of the bill will remove the 5-year bar on Medicaid for green card holders.

Undocumented students are speaking out in unison about the need for immigration reform. In this remarkable story, students who may risk deportation by identifying themselves are coming out en masse in support of the DREAM Act, a bill that would put eligible undocumented students on a fast track to legal status and eventual citizenship. Carlos Roa, from Venezuela, says: “The undocumented youth are losing our fear of being undocumented. I’m public with this. I’m not hiding anymore.”

Why do we need comprehensive immigration reform in a recession? Well, the Boston Globe says, more immigrants are leaping into business ownership now than ever. Immigrant-owned businesses create millions of jobs in the United States each year. Check out FCNL's new document, "Immigration Reform is Key to Economic Recovery," for more information.

I'll leave you with an incredible story by the Washington Post on how second-generation immigrants struggle to find their footing in communities in which they are only partially integrated. Another Washington Post article points out that the children of undocumented immigrants are twice as likely as others to live in poverty. Comprehensive immigration reform would permit families, such as those featured in this article, to fully integrate into the community and contribute more robustly to the U.S. economy.

In Commemoration of Human Rights Day 2009: Immigrants Have Rights Too... Right?

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. ~World Health Organization, 1948

If you don't have your health, then almost nothing else matters. From the smallest of injuries to grave illnesses, poor health disrupts daily life and can threaten your livelihood or even your survival. What so many of us take for granted - a healthy body, access to health care, and an environment conducive to good health - remains inaccessible for many of today's immigrants.

This Thursday, December 10, is Human Rights Day, which commemorates the 61st anniversary of the creation of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. This year, as health care reform advances in Congress and immigration reform is around the corner, let's take a moment to consider whether immigrants deserve to be in good health.

This should seem like a no-brainer, right? Of course immigrants deserve to be healthy, just like everyone else. But this notion, that people have rights based on their common humanity, is actually not yet well accepted in the United States. It is time for the U.S. government to recognize that the right to health is an essential and basic human right.

Immigrants face multiple barriers to good health. Conflicts abroad can force them from their homelands, sending them on a circuitous journey across national borders with few resources. Environmental destruction can dry up wells, destroy crops, and send people out in search of a better life. Economic disparities and governmental policies can deny immigrants and other marginalized populations access to basic health care even when it is widely available to the rest of the population.

The premise of human rights like the right to health is that people deserve to live with a certain level of dignity, and if they are unable to achieve that on their own, then their government will step in and help them out. Human rights law is a way of holding governments responsible to their people.

International human rights law clearly supports health as a human right. The Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights both state that all peoples have the right to a standard of living that promotes physical and mental health and well-being. In addition, the United States, as a signatory to the Charter of the Organization of American States, is committed to development efforts that promote a healthful life for all.

But how do these international commitments translate on the ground?

If the state of the current health reform legislation is any indicator, then the United States has a long way to go in ensuring that all of its residents - including immigrants - have access to adequate health care. Even with the upcoming reforms, immigrants face significant and unfair restrictions. Undocumented immigrants may not be able to buy coverage in the health insurance exchange even with their own money. Immigrants with green cards, who are in the country legally, would still face a 5-year ban for Medicaid.

From a public health standpoint, it just makes sense to want as many people as possible to have good access to health care. Healthy people make for healthy and productive communities. This is a common-sense solution to a shared problem. From a human rights standpoint, immigrants deserve health care coverage just as much as anyone else.

But the broken U.S. immigration system prevents immigrants from demanding their rights. Undocumented immigrants, unable to adjust their legal status, are particularly at risk of human rights abuses.

One of the most prominent sites of human rights abuses is the immigration detention system. The Department of Homeland Security will detain more than 440,000 immigrants annually by the end of 2009. Most of these immigrants are non-criminal and are suspected only of immigration violations, yet they are detained in jail-like settings and routinely denied access to basic and timely health care. Cases have been documented in which regularly taken medication was withheld, follow-up treatment for cancer was denied, and sick call requests were ignored. At least 104 immigrants have died in detention since 2003. This is unacceptable.

Just about everyone agrees that the U.S. immigration system is broken and needs fixing. Immigrants and their families need workable solutions that make it possible to live with dignity, in a way that is consistent with this country's values of equality and opportunity. Health is an essential part of this equation.

In honor of Human Rights Day and in recognition of health as a human right, Congress should include immigrants in the final health reform bill and work toward passing humane and comprehensive immigration reform in early 2010.

There's a Better Way: Alternatives to Detention

Stories from Detention - Week 6

Creating alternatives to detention would be a bold step in fixing this country's broken immigration system.  Before we get into alternatives, let's take a brief look back to see what we've learned so far.

We've learned that immigration is a human rights issue.  Protecting the human rights of all immigrants, including those held in detention centers, is critical in order to restore the credibility of the U.S. immigration system.

We've learned that lacking the proper documentation is a civil offense, not a criminal offense.  Even so, undocumented immigrants are being treated as if they were criminals - they are detained in detention centers across the country and deported at times without ever appearing before a judge.  These immigrants deserve better.

We've learned that the conditions in detention facilities are substandard and that members of vulnerable populations are not sufficiently protected.  While these conditions need to be improved, ultimately the number of people held in immigration detention centers must be reduced.

This final post will discuss humane and cost-effective alternatives to detention.

Before we dive into the details, let's watch a video from Human Rights First about the need for alternatives to detention for asylum seekers.  Then we'll take a look at what it will take to create a nation-wide system of alternatives that works for everyone.

In order to move toward a more humane approach to immigration enforcement, the U.S. government should develop alternatives to detention in a systematic way.  Currently, some alternatives exist here and there, but much more could be done to create humane alternatives on a national scale.  A systematic approach to reform will ensure that all immigrants are treated equally.

What would humane alternatives to detention look like?

The first step in creating nation-wide alternatives to detention is establishing a standardized assessment.  When each individual detainee is apprehended, ICE would conduct an assessment that would examine the detainee's risks and needs.  Questions on risks would establish whether the detainee could be considered a flight risk or a threat to public safety.  Questions on needs would determine whether the detainee belongs to a vulnerable population, whether they have a claim to citizenship or legal status, whether they need medical care, and so on.

By conducting this assessment, ICE would have a much better sense of who exactly is in its custody.  The agency would then be well-positioned to consider whether detention is appropriate for each individual.

The next step would be to determine whether it makes sense to detain each individual.  We're not talking about an either-or proposition here, as if either a person is detained or released.  Instead, we're talking about creating a continuum of different alternative-to-detention options.

ICE would use its risk and needs assessment to determine which option is most suitable for each detainee.  That way, ICE would treat each detainee individually instead of using the current one-size-fits-all approach in which detention is the default.

In this continuum, detention would be a last resort.  

Let's start by looking at the least restrictive end of the continuum.  At the far end, immigrant detainees who are non-criminal and do not pose a risk to society could be released on parole.  They would be expected to appear to their court dates on their own.  Others could be released into community-based or faith-based programs, where they would receive support as their cases proceed.  Others could be enrolled in alternative-to-detention programs that would include regular check-ins with an officer or telephonic reporting.  These would be the non-custodial alternatives to detention.

The more restrictive options in the continuum would be alternative forms of detention (as opposed to alternatives to detention).  The most common of these forms is electronic monitoring, through ankle bracelets.  Detainees in these programs could also be expected to check in regularly or adhere to a curfew.  Then, moving up the scale, immigrant detainees could be held in residential facilities.  Finally, those who are deemed a flight risk or a threat to public safety could be held in less restrictive detention facilities or traditional detention facilities as appropriate.

Essentially, detention would no longer be the first option.  It would be the last.  This continuum of alternatives would ensure that detention - an extreme measure - would only be used when it is absolutely necessary.

In political parlance, such a continuum would create a presumption against detention.  The burden would be on the U.S. government to prove why immigrants should be detained, instead of on those in its custody to prove why they should not be detained.

Is this continuum of alternatives to detention possible?

It is not only possible, but necessary.  The current immigration detention system is inefficient, costly, and prone to human rights abuses.  Creating alternatives to detention would improve this system.

Pilot programs for alternatives to detention have demonstrated high levels of compliance, in that almost all participants still showed up for their court dates and removal orders.  If people feel that they're receiving due process, if they respect the system and feel that they've been heard, then they're more likely to respect the final decision on removal.

In addition, creating a nation-wide system of alternatives to detention would save money.  Alternatives cost as little as $12 per person per day, while traditional detention costs, on average, $95 per person per day.  Finally, alternatives would make the system fair by keeping people out of detention who don't belong there.

The ultimate goal is to safely and humanely reduce the number of immigrants in detention.  Creating a continuum of alternatives to detention would be a workable solution that would fix the broken immigration enforcement system and uphold this country's commitment to justice.

So call or write your Representatives and Senators and tell them that the time for immigration reform is now.  Encourage them to include humane detention and due process reforms in comprehensive immigration reform.  Contact the Department of Homeland Security and tell them that the government should use its discretion to create alternatives to detention.  Speak up in church, at school, or at home and tell your community about how to support workable solutions to this broken immigration detention system that disrupts the lives of so many each day.

Want to learn more, or share what you've learned with others?  Check out these resources on detention and alternatives to detention.

The Detention Watch Network is an excellent resource for information on detention and due process.  Click here for their alternatives to detention fact sheet.  Click here for the Rights Working Group fact sheet on detention and due process.

"Jailed Without Justice" is an Amnesty International report on the immigration detention system.  "Seeking Protection, Finding Prison" is a Human Rights First report on asylum seekers in detention.

Wondering whether there's a detention center near you?  Click here to see a map of detention facilities around the country.  Want to get some friends together and visit detainees?  Read this detention visitation manual to learn how to connect your community with immigrant detainees.

To read more stories on detention, visit this website from the Detention Watch Network.

To be neutral in a situation of injustice is to have chosen sides already.

~Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Other posts in this series:

Stories from Detention: Introduction

Rights and Dignity Denied: One Woman's Story

No Human Being is Illegal: Civil Offenses

Searching for Justice: Mandatory Detention

Inside the Walls: Detention Conditions

In Need of Protection: Vulnerable Populations

Inside the Walls: Detention Conditions

Stories from Detention - Week 4

Imagine that you are on your way to pick your son up at school and you run a red light. A police officer pulls you over and arrests you because he suspects that you are an undocumented immigrant. After processing, you are held in a local prison. The prison is overcrowded so, two days later, you are put in leg and belly chains and transferred to an immigration detention facility in a remote location in rural Texas. What do you do?

You don't know whether your son is safe. Your visa proving you are legally permitted to live in the United States is back at home in the drawer. Your blood pressure medication, which you need to take every day, is on the table at home too. You only have the $27 in your pocket when you were arrested. You are afraid that you will be deported.

Many of the 440,000 people who will be detained in the immigration detention system this year face situations similar to this one. They are caught up in a system that has weak guidelines and little oversight. Even their basic needs often go unmet.

The conditions in many immigration detention facilities are terrible. Detainees do not receive adequate health care, have trouble contacting their families, and are frequently transferred - without warning - to detention centers far away from their homes. In today's video clip, we will learn the story of a young immigrant woman who was placed in seven detention centers over three years.



Even though Agatha Joseph's daughter is a green card holder, she was detained for a minor offense on her record for which she had already paid a fine. In the last post in this series, we discussed how mandatory detention policies punish immigrants retroactively and disproportionately for minor crimes they have committed in the past.

This young woman was transferred to seven different facilities in three years. Such transfers are common and make it extremely difficult for immigrant detainees to stay in touch with their families and their lawyers. In addition, guards sometimes threaten to transfer detainees to another facility if they complain about conditions.

Frequent transfers also complicate medical treatment. Immigrant detainees find it very difficult to get any medical care at all, much less timely care for any illnesses or injuries. In addition, immigrant detainees who have experienced torture, abuse, or other trauma often also need mental health care. These detainees may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. They are actually at risk of re-traumatization while in detention, since the conditions in detention may remind them strongly of their past traumatic experiences.

Immigrant detainees face a number of other unreasonable restrictions while in detention, many of which amount to violations of human and civil rights. Just to give you a sense of the range of violations…

• Over 57% of immigrant detainees are held in county or city prisons where they are mixed in with the local prison population. They are not adequately protected against physical, verbal, or sexual abuse. Many of these facilities are overcrowded as well.

• In many facilities, immigrant detainees lack access to fresh air and exercise. Some facilities do not allow detainees to spend any time outside. Some only permit exercise two or four days a week while others schedule exercise at unreasonable hours of the day.

• Many immigrant detainees lack access to religious services, pastoral care, and a diet in keeping with their religious practices. In one detention center, detainees observing Ramadan had fasted during the day and requested hot water in the evening with which to make soup to break their fast. The guards refused and, when the detainees objected, the guards threatened to put them in solitary confinement if they continued to complain.

• Finally, and perhaps most importantly, 84% of immigrant detainees are not represented by a lawyer. As they prepare to argue their own cases, they lack access to necessary resources and materials. Detainees rely on the facility's telephones in order to contact family members, law offices, and consulates. However, they may be required to wait as 40 or 50 detainees share 2 or 3 phones. In addition, they are unable to make free calls to pro bono legal services. The detention facilities' law libraries do not often have immigration-related legal materials in appropriate languages and translation and interpretation services are nearly non-existent. Legal orientation programs are rare. In sum, immigrant detainees are often reliant on ICE officers for information about their case - a clear conflict of interests.

The conditions in immigration detention centers are abysmal by nearly any standard. By expressing your concerns on the conditions in these facilities, you can urge Congress and the Obama administration to take three steps to fix this broken system.

First, you can urge ICE to provide detainees with adequate medical treatment including initial medical screenings, primary care and emergency care. This step would avoid needless and preventable detainee deaths.

Second, you can urge Congress to pass legislation on detention standards. In the House, there are two bills on this subject: the Immigration Oversight and Fairness Act and the HELP for Separated Children Act. In the Senate, there are two bills as well: the Strong STANDARDS Act and the Protect Citizens and Residents from Unlawful Detention Act. These bills would create binding, clear, enforceable standards to ensure that the conditions in detention facilities are improved.

Third, you can urge the Department of Homeland Security to create independent oversight of detention facilities. This step would promote accountability and ensure that all immigrant detainees are treated fairly and humanely.

Improving the conditions in detention centers is an important step in fixing the immigration detention system. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Ultimately, ICE must no longer detain as many people as it does currently. Stay tuned for more posts in this series that will discuss how to safely and humanely reduce the number of immigrants in detention.

Other posts in this series:

Stories from Detention: Introduction
Rights and Dignity Denied: One Woman's Story
No Human Being is Illegal: Civil Offenses
Searching for Justice: Mandatory Detention
In Need of Protection: Vulnerable Populations
There's a Better Way: Alternatives to Detention

Congress Considers Restricting Health Care Coverage for Legal Immigrants

Members of Congress in both the House and the Senate continue to debate over how much health care coverage to provide to legal immigrants. It is time for Congress to recognize that health care coverage for legal immigrants would benefit not only immigrants but the entire U.S. population.

Don't believe me? Read Roger Cohen's op-ed from October 4th in the New York Times. Cohen writes, "When it comes to health, we're all in this together. Pooling the risk between everybody is the most efficient way to forge a healthier society."

Take swine flu, for instance. If my neighbor gets vaccinated, I'm a little bit healthier. If half of my neighbors get vaccinated, I'm in even better shape. If all of my neighbors get vaccinated, our whole community benefits.

Fundamentally, by ensuring that our neighbors are able to access health care, we keep ourselves healthier as well. Healthy communities are productive communities.

Legal immigrants cannot wait 5 years (as some lawmakers are recommending) before receiving health care coverage. The U.S. public as a whole cannot afford to wait that long to allow legal immigrants to integrate into the health care system. Preventative care now will pay off tremendously in the long run. In today's New York Times article, Prof. Steven P. Wallace (UCLA) says, "You can either keep those immigrants healthy now, or exclude them and wait until they get really sick, then pay for it down the line."

The United States needs workable solutions for health care reform. It should be common sense to allow legal immigrants in participate in the health insurance exchange and receive subsidized care if they qualify. It's time to choose solutions that allow an inclusive health care reform bill to move forward now.

Searching for Justice: Mandatory Detention

Stories from Detention - Week 3

In the last post in this series, we discussed how immigration violations are civil, not criminal offenses. If that is so, then how has it been possible for the number of immigrant detainees to skyrocket in recent years?

Recent immigration laws have deprived immigrants of their dignity and their rights. By denying immigrants the right to a fair day in court, these laws have greatly expanded the number of people detained and deported each year.

In 1996, laws on expedited removal and mandatory detention created some of the most severe failures to uphold justice within the U.S. immigration system. Expedited removal is a procedure that allows immigration agencies to deport certain immigrants without a hearing in front of an independent court. Detention is mandatory during the time it takes to deport these people from the United States.

It is common knowledge that the U.S. government was set up as a system of checks and balances - without the judicial branch, that system would be severely weakened. However, the U.S. immigration system currently lacks this same measure of justice.

Before we get into the history of how expedited removal and mandatory detention were put into place and which immigrant populations are affected by these policies, let's take a look at how this denial of justice affected Warren Joseph, an immigrant from Trinidad. As Joseph's story will demonstrate, mandatory detention can last months, or even years.

Joseph was fortunate that his case was processed and he was eventually able to reunite with his son and remain in the United States. Many are not as fortunate - they are deported, without ever having had an opportunity to argue their case before a judge.

So, who is affected by expedited removal and mandatory detention?

As Joseph's story indicates, immigrants who have been convicted of a crime are subject to mandatory detention. The offenses for which immigrants are detained and deported include minor misdemeanors, such as shoplifting or petty drug possession. These minor misdemeanors may not have required any jail time, but they are still grounds for deportation under current immigration laws.

This policy affects all non-citizens, including green card holders with strong ties to the United States who have previously been convicted of a crime, even if the conviction is for a minor offense and even if - like Joseph - they have already paid their debt to society. They are punished retroactively for crimes they committed years, even decades ago, even for crimes that were not deportable offenses at the time that they were committed.

Mandatory detention also applies to arriving immigrants who do not have the proper documentation and who are unable to establish a "credible fear" of returning to their country of origin.

As I mentioned earlier, immigration laws were passed in 1996 that expanded the scope of mandatory detention and expedited removal. At the same time, the budget for the Department of Homeland Security increased significantly. As a result, the number of immigrant detainees has increased dramatically in the past fifteen years. According to the Detention Watch Network, the U.S. detained approximately 95,000 individuals in 2001. By 2007, over 300,000 people were being detained annually under immigration laws. By the end of 2009, that number will have increased yet again to more than 440,000 immigrant detainees.

Mandatory detention and expedited removal, policies that affect thousands of people's lives each year, are actually illegal under international law because they do not grant detainees a fair day in court. According to the United Nations Human Rights Committee and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, detention is arbitrary if it fails to consider individuals' personal circumstances. Mandatory detention therefore violates international law. The United States has signed onto international treaties, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which prohibit arbitrary detention.

The vast majority of people who are subject to mandatory detention and expedited removal do not have access to a lawyer. Overall, 84% of immigrant detainees do not have legal representation. In addition, mandatory detention does not allow detainees to appear before an impartial judge. People are routinely deported under mandatory detention without any consideration of their personal situation, such as whether they have young children in the United States or whether they would be in danger if returned to their country of origin.

Here at FCNL, we maintain that mandatory detention and expedited removal must be ended, in order to restore justice to the U.S. immigration system.

In order to restore fairness to the immigration system, we urge Congress to pass a bill that ends these fundamentally unjust policies. Such a bill should give immigration judges discretion to make case-by-case decisions on whether individuals should be detained. Alternatives to detention should be put into place on a national level. In addition, it is important to push back against bills that would expand the criteria for mandatory detention even further.

We also urge the Department of Homeland Security to take immediate steps to ensure that immigrant detainees have access to lawyers and law libraries. Detainees currently face huge obstacles in finding legal assistance because they are held in isolated areas, often without interpreter or translator services, and have limited access to telephones. The next post in this series will address our concerns regarding detention conditions in greater detail.

Justice is denied to immigrants under the mandatory detention and expedited removal policies. There is no place for this kind of injustice in a fair immigration system.

Other posts in this series:

Stories from Detention: Introduction
Rights and Dignity Denied: One Woman's Story
No Human Being is Illegal: Civil Offenses
Inside the Walls: Detention Conditions
In Need of Protection: Vulnerable Populations
There's a Better Way: Alternatives to Detention

No Human Being is Illegal: Civil Offenses

Stories from Detention - Week 2

In conversations on immigration issues, people on many sides of the debate use the term "illegal immigrants." Some choose instead to say "illegal aliens." Even the mainstream media uses these phrases. This choice of language reflects the widely-held notion in the United States that not having proper documentation is a crime.

Get ready for this one: Being an "illegal immigrant" is not a crime.

Violations of immigration laws are civil, not criminal offenses. Let's look at a couple other examples of civil offenses. These include paying for damages in a car accident, going to court for a property dispute, or settling a disagreement about someone's will. These are not criminal offenses, and neither are immigration violations.

What is the punishment for most civil offenses? A fine. What is the punishment for immigrating to the United States without documentation, which is also a civil offense? Arrest, detention, and deportation.

When undocumented immigrants are found to be in violation of immigration laws, they go through a process to see whether they have a right to stay in the United States. Immigrants detained during this process are in non-criminal custody. However, it's easy to get confused on this point, because more than half of the immigrants in detention are held in private prisons or county jails. Some of them are even mixed in with the criminal prison population.

In this video clip, a woman who was detained in an immigration raid on a New Bedford factory gives testimony about her experience. She was separated from her daughter and refused access to a lawyer. Traumatized from the humiliation she experienced, as well as the verbal and physical abuse that she witnessed, she still chooses to share her story.



This woman's experience in the immigration detention system caused her a great deal of pain. Her story raises an important question: What should be the appropriate governmental response to people who enter the U.S. without documentation?

Since most immigration violations are civil rather than criminal offenses, the U.S. government should treat detention as a last resort. Right now, almost all the people accused of violating immigration laws are held in detention centers - no matter what their individual circumstances are. Instead, the Department of Homeland Security should develop community-based alternatives to detention for people, like the woman in this video, who are not a risk to public safety. That way, they could stay together with their families and children as their cases are processed. In addition, Congress should pass a bill on immigration reform that protects people from being treated unfairly in detention.

I will talk in much more detail about these possibilities for reform in the upcoming post, "There's a Better Way: Alternatives to Detention." But these reforms aren't going to happen tomorrow - although they could certainly happen in the next few months. In the meantime, you can help to raise awareness about the immigration detention system.

Language can be a powerful tool. The way that people talk about immigration reflects how they think about immigration. The words that frame these issues actually serve a political purpose - they shape how the discussion on immigration reform advances.

By making a conscious choice not to say "illegal immigrants" and instead to say "undocumented immigrants," you can help to educate your friends, family, and community about how violating immigration laws is not a criminal offense.

Other posts in this series:

Stories from Detention: Introduction
Rights and Dignity Denied: One Woman's Story
Searching for Justice: Mandatory Detention
Inside the Walls: Detention Conditions
In Need of Protection: Vulnerable Populations
There's a Better Way: Alternatives to Detention

Rights and Dignity Denied: One Woman’s Story

Stories from Detention - Week 1

"Our nation's soul is at risk. Families are being torn apart. Human rights are being denied. Comprehensive immigration reform is needed now. We recognize an urgent duty and challenge to stand in solidarity with immigrants, refugees, and trafficked persons seeking fullness of life, and to act as a voice for those whose needs get lost in the political debate."
~ Sister Eileen Campbell

The use of detention as a tool of enforcement has skyrocketed in recent years. In 1996, immigration authorities had the capacity to detain less than 10,000 people on a daily basis. Today that number has tripled - more than 30,000 immigrants are detained each day. More than 440,000 people will be detained by immigration authorities this year.

Immigrants in the detention system spend anywhere from a few days to months or even years in confinement, with little access to family or lawyers on the outside. They are caught in a system that has weak guidelines and little oversight.

More than 104 individuals have died while in immigration custody since 2004, including 11 previously unreported deaths that were revealed in August 2009. Detainees being held on immigration charges are routinely denied adequate medical care, including access to medications treating pre-existing conditions.

Those in detention include immigrants who have never committed a crime, survivors of torture, asylum-seekers searching for protection from persecution, and the parents of U.S. citizen children. None of these populations receive the support and protections they need.

Moreover, until recently, families - including young children - were held in the T. Don Hutto detention facility, a former medium-security prison, in Texas. Families are still detained in the less restrictive Berks facility.

Two agencies within the Department of Homeland Security are in charge of enforcing immigration laws. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is responsible for enforcement within the United States, while Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is responsible for enforcement on the borders. People whose legal status is in question are detained in a mix of facilities run by ICE, privately contracted facilities, and county jails.

One of the people directly affected by the detention system is Juana Villegas, a Mexican woman who was stopped for careless driving and then detained in substandard conditions while nine months pregnant. Take a look at this video, in which she describes her experiences while in detention:

Juana Villegas's experiences raise questions about what place a detention system like this has in a society committed to equality, justice, and rights. Her story, which took a lot of courage to tell, sheds light on how the immigration detention system disregards the humanity of too many detainees.

While the government has the right to control its borders, it also has obligations under international law to protect the human rights of all people in its territory. This does not just apply to citizens - it includes everyone, no matter their immigration status. The United States has signed and ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that:

• Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person (Article 3)
• No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention, or exile (Article 9)
• Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state (Article 13.1)
  

The public debate on immigration, particularly in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, has created the impression that immigration is an issue of national security. From this debate, hate rhetoric has emerged which contributes to the widely-held impression that immigrants do not deserve any rights. This is not true. Every immigrant, whether undocumented or not, deserves to be treated with dignity and to enjoy the rights listed above.

Today, the U.S. immigration detention system violates these rights, which are protected by international law. When mandatory detention is enforced, these rights are violated. When immigrants are denied a fair day in court, these rights are violated. When ICE does not ensure that detention facilities have appropriate living conditions, these rights are violated. And when people who are particularly vulnerable to trauma and abuse are not protected, these rights are violated. The subsequent posts in this blog series will address each of these issues in turn.

When both legal and undocumented immigrants are held in detention centers for months or even years, their confinement erodes the United States' commitment to upholding justice for all. When people like Juana Villegas are treated inhumanely in the U.S. detention system, their experiences tarnish the United States' reputation as a protector and defender of human and civil rights.

In order to restore justice and respect for the rights of all, Congress and the Obama administration must take bold steps to reform the U.S. immigration detention system. The Department of Homeland Security must make good on its promise to overhaul its detention facilities. The current legislation on humane detention reform must be included in upcoming bills on broader immigration reforms. These steps would ensure that this country's immigration system works for everyone and still respects the basic rights and dignity of all immigrants.

Other posts in this series:

Stories from Detention: Introduction
No Human Being is Illegal: Civil Offenses
Searching for Justice: Mandatory Detention
Inside the Walls: Detention Conditions
In Need of Protection: Vulnerable Populations
There's a Better Way: Alternatives to Detention

Stories from Detention: A Six-Week Series

Welcome to "Stories from Detention," a six-week blog series examining the U.S. immigration detention system and exploring possibilities for humane reforms.

Detention is an aspect of the U.S. immigration system that, for all the attention it receives in the media, is not well understood. Anti-immigrant rhetoric creates the impression that detention is less problematic than it really is. Detention facilities themselves are often located in rural areas, away from the public eye. Immigrants held in detention facilities are often unable to tell their own stories because of the conditions of their confinement.

However, since the United States will detain over 440,000 people in 2009, it's worth a closer look.

In this series, every Friday I will post a short video in which a former detainee tells his or her story of experiencing detention. Each video will be accompanied by information about different aspects of the U.S. immigration detention system. At the end of each post, I will offer concrete steps that Congress and the Obama administration could take to reform each component of the detention system.

As you read these posts and watch the videos, keep in mind that these detainees' stories are not exceptional. Rather, they are indicative of system-wide injustices that must be corrected in order to restore the U.S. traditions of justice and equality.

Solutions to the current situation could be at hand in the near future. Members of Congress will soon be introducing legislation to reform how immigration works in the United States. Bills specifically on detention reform are already making their way through the House and Senate. The Department of Homeland Security has announced that it intends to overhaul the detention system. Will all these changes become a reality?

Your participation in this process is key. This is an issue that affects everyone -- not just immigrants and their families. Once you willingly put up with someone else's rights being taken away, you expose yourself to the possibility that one day soon, yours will be restricted as well.

Listen to these immigrants' stories, share this series with your loved ones and people in your community committed to immigration reform, and let's work together to create a future with dignity and fairness for all people, regardless of immigration status.

Other posts in this series:

Rights and Dignity Denied: One Woman's Story
No Human Being is Illegal: Civil Offenses
Searching for Justice: Mandatory Detention
Inside the Walls: Detention Conditions
In Need of Protection: Vulnerable Populations
There's a Better Way: Alternatives to Detention

Senate Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Faith-Based Perspectives on Immigration Reform

The Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security just held a hearing this afternoon on "Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Faith-Based Perspectives." Senator Schumer invited witnesses from the evangelical faith community to speak on the need for comprehensive immigration reform. Prior to the hearing, we at FCNL and our colleagues at other faith-based advocacy organizations were concerned that this panel did not represent a diversity of faith leaders, and thus was not a truly interfaith panel. However, I am pretty satisfied with what I heard expressed at the hearing today. Let me share some of the remarks of the witnesses with you:

Michael Gerson, a senior research fellow at the Center on Faith and International Affairs in Washington, DC, said that a relatively open immigration system is good for the economy. He sees bigotry in current arguments against immigration reform and sees a need for unity, saying, "No one is illegal. They are human beings with stories and struggles. Every alien is a neighbor."

Leith Anderson, the senior pastor of the Wooddale Church in Minnesota, said of immigrants that "they are us," meaning that many Christian evangelical denominations are growing largely due to immigrants. He also said that it is important to prioritize family reunification in immigration reform. His priorities for reform include: ensuring fair and humane treatment of immigrants, creating strong borders, promoting family unity, and creating a reasonable path to legal status and eventual citizenship.

Cardinal Archbishop Emeritus Theodore E. McCarrick recognized the need to welcome the stranger, a teaching that is common to many faith traditions. He said - and this is a great quote - that immigration reform is ultimately a humanitarian issue, and this issue is "the axis around which other aspects [of reform] should revolve." He is also committed to creating pathways to citizenship and family unity. In his remarks, he mentioned the need to reduce the number of deaths on the border; to protect asylum-seekers and refugees; to ensure due process so that each individual immigrant has his or her fair day in court; and to restore the rule of law. Most importantly (in my view), he said that the United States must be willing to work with its international partners to address the root causes of immigration, including trade issues.

Reverend Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said that this is an issue of "moral and spiritual imperative, an issue of justice." Similarly to the other witnesses, he supports an earned pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

James Tolle, the senior pastor of the Church on the Way, called on Americans to love thy neighbor as thy self. He recognizes that undocumented students are caught in a paradox, in that once they have degrees in higher education they are unable to get jobs to implement their skills. He also spoke about how his community was personally affected by raids, in which Hispanic citizens were detained as they waited to prove their legal status. He sees undocumented immigrants as exploited, when they should be able to enjoy equality and human rights. He reminded the subcommittee that the overwhelming majority of the undocumented population are not criminals -- undocumented immigrants are seeking safety and want to obey the law.

I am very heartened to hear these faith leaders speak strongly about the need to see immigrants as people who deserve to be treated with dignity, regardless of their legal status. I am still concerned that immigration reform must include reasonable pathways to legal status and eventual citizenship -- there was some concerning talk at the hearing about the extent to which undocumented immigrants should be required to "pay their debt to society." However, I am glad that Senator Schumer and the subcommittee have recognized the voice of the faith community in advocacy on immigration reform, and I hope that this hearing indicates that Senator Schumer will be introducing a humane bill on comprehensive immigration reform in the near future.

In Our Community: Immigration News

Wondering what's happened on immigration in the past week? Take a look here at the news on immigration from Monday, September 21 to Monday, September 28.

Time to celebrate! The Associated Press reports that, as of last week, the last families have left the T. Don Hutto detention facility in Texas. Hutto had been a medium-security prison until it was converted in 2006 into an immigration detention facility for families. This facility has been used to detain immigrant families - including pregnant women, young children, and infants - until lawsuits from ACLU and grassroots protests shut it down. Before the lawsuits, conditions in Hutto were appalling. Children were receiving no more than an hour of education a day. Toys and crayons were not allowed in the cells. Guards accustomed to dealing with adults with criminal convictions were now in charge of vulnerable children and their parents. Children reported that the guards would threaten to take away their mothers and transfer them to a different facility if they misbehaved.

To learn more about the human rights abuses at Hutto, watch this video (and see YouTube for parts 2 and 3):



According to ICE, the families held in Hutto have been deported, paroled, or released as their cases on immigration status move through the system. Families apprehended from now on will either be placed under supervision or detained at the much smaller Berks facility in Pennsylvania.

Ever since Lou Dobbs received an award two weeks ago from FAIR, a recognized anti-immigrant hate group, more people have been speaking out about whether he should be removed from CNN. This article describes the efforts of Democracia Ahora, an organization that has just launched a campaign called "Enough is Enough," to get CNN to rein in Dobbs. Democracia Ahora also released a report on Friday based on interviews with 100 Hispanic leaders. The vast majority of these leaders expressed concerns that Dobbs, through his frequent and incendiary remarks about undocumented immigrants, is creating a negative image of Hispanics in the United States.

As mark-ups on the health care bill in the Senate Finance Committee continue into this week, a number of members of Congress are still speaking out on the need to make the health care system reasonably accessible to documented and undocumented immigrants. Twenty-nine Democrats signed on to a letter that strongly urges Congressional leaders to eliminate the five-year waiting period for legal immigrants in the Medicaid program. Representative Mike Honda, the original author of the sign-on letter, also called for the elimination of a provision creating a waiting period for legal immigrants to obtain credits to buy health insurance. A quote from the letter: "The unnecessary and burdensome waiting period has increased racial and ethnic health disparities, and thwarts the goal of health care reform. It is not only fiscally shortsighted, but also arbitrary and fundamentally unfair to deny health care coverage to legal immigrants."

Representative Honda has also written a second letter, which many of the same members of Congress have signed on to, opposing a provision in the Baucus bill in the Senate that bars undocumented immigrants from purchasing non-subsidized health insurance coverage.

The Des Moines Register has printed an article stating that many ICE arrests are not of criminals. This article explains how 67 percent of the people detained this year by Iowa's new ICE unit do not have any criminal background. Instead, they are being held on immigration charges, which are civil, not criminal, offenses. The article also provides some good background information on how ICE has created new programs that give the agency unprecedented abilities to intervene in local communities.