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Two years ago, in announcements made in August and October of 2009,
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) committed to transform the U.S.
immigration detention system by shifting it away from its longtime
reliance on jails and jail-like facilities, to facilities with
conditions more appropriate for the detention of civil immigration
law detainees. In this report, Human Rights First reveals that
despite these commitments, the United States continues to hold the
overwhelming majority of detained asylum seekers and other civil
immigration law detainees - nearly 400,000 each year - in jails and
jail-like facilities across the country. The facilities are
expected to cost American taxpayers more than $2 billion in 2012.
In the course of its assessment, Human Rights First visited 17
ICE-authorized detention facilities that together held more than
10,000 of the 33,400 total ICE beds, interviewed government
officials, legal service providers, and former immigration
detainees, as well as a range of former prison wardens, corrections
officials, and other experts on correctional systems. The report
also notes that former prison officials and other corrections
experts have found that less penal conditions in detention can
actually help improve safety inside a facility, a finding echoed in
multiple studies. It outlines steps that the administration should
take to end its reliance on facilities with conditions that are
inappropriate for asylum seekers and other civil immigration law
detainees, and to bring U.S. detention practices into compliance
with international human rights standards.
Detained and Denied in Afghanistan: How to Make U.S. Detention
Comply with the Law examines the situation of more than 1700
detainees held at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan - more than triple
the number held by the Bush administration and around 10 times the
number at Guantanamo Bay. It is based on observation of hearings
given to detainees by the U.S. military in Sept. 2010 and Feb.
2011; an Afghan trial supported by the U.S. military; and
interviews with former detainees, all of whom had been released
from U.S. custody within the previous year. This report follows up
on Human Rights First's earlier report, issued two years ago, on US
and Afghan detention practices in Afghanistan. The report finds
that although improvements have been made, the current detention
system is still plagued by failures to comply with international
law. HRF's recommendations for improvement include providing
detainees with legal representation, and reducing the reliance on
secret evidence at their hearings. Human Rights First also
recommends that as the U.S. withdraws troops from Afghanistan, it
maintain its commitment to civilian assistance for development of
the rule of law.
As "Living in Limbo" attests, thousands of Iraqi refugees -
including Iraqi Christians and other religious and sexual
minorities, as well as U.S.-affilitated Iraqis - are living in
limbo in the Middle East region, struggling to survive outside of
Iraq without the right to work, put their children in school, or
get heath care. As violence and instability persist in Iraq,
resettlement to other countries - including the United States -
remains the only effective path for many of these refugees,
including those who have faced persecution in Iraq because of their
work with the United States. While the United States has stepped up
its response to Iraqi displacement over the last few years serious
reforms are needed in the U.S. resettlement program to remove
unnecessary processing delays which now leave many Iraqi refugees
and U.S.-affiliated Iraqis vulnerable and stranded in difficult and
sometimes dangerous situations.
In March 2003, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security took over
responsibility for asylum and immigration matters when the former
INS was abolished. With this transfer, DHS was entrusted with the
duty to ensure that the United States lives up to its commitments
to those who seek asylum from persecution. These commitments stem
from both U.S. law and international treaties with which the United
States has pledged to abide. Yet, those who seek asylum - a form of
protection extended to victims of political, religious and other
forms of persecution - have been swept up in a wave of increased
immigration detention, which has left many asylum seekers in jails
and jail-like facilities for months or even years.
The 2008 Hate Crime Survey examines the reality of violent hate
crimes motivated by racism and xenophobia, antisemitism,
anti-Muslim bias, religious intolerance, anti-Roma bias, and
homophobia: Violent hate crimes motivated by racism and xenophobia
rose significantly in at least 12 countries; In 2007, overall
levels of violent antisemitic attacks increased in at least five
countries; Violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity
bias is a significant portion of violent hate crimes overall and is
characterized by levels of physical violence that in some cases
exceeds those present in other hate crimes; Although there is ample
evidence of violence targeting Muslims across Europe and North
America, only five governments publicly report on violent incidents
motivated by this form of bias. This Survey also examines critical
elements of an effective government response: official monitoring
and public reporting as well as adequate legislation and its
implementation.
Over the past eight years, thousands of legitimate refugees who
pose no threat to the United States have had their applications for
asylum, permanent residence, and family reunification denied or
delayed due to overly broad provisions of U.S. immigration law that
were intended to protect the United States against terrorism.
Changes to the immigration laws enacted as part of the USA PATRIOT
Act of 2001 and the REAL ID Act of 2005 greatly expanded the
immigration law's provisions relating to "terrorism." At the same
time, the federal agencies charged with enforcing these laws began
to interpret both the old and the new provisions in increasingly
expansive ways. This report documents how these changes in law and
in legal interpretation are affecting refugees ranging from
peaceful advocates for democracy to former child soldiers. The
report offers recommendations to Congress and to the Departments of
Homeland Security, Justice, and State.
Arbitrary Justice documents how detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
and Bagram Airbase, Afghanistan are being tried in Afghan courts
based on allegations provided by the United States, with little or
no evidence. At printing, more than 250 persons had been
transferred to the Afghan National Detention Facility, 160 have
been referred for prosecutions, but over 60 have been convicted in
trials that violate fair trial standards. The report, based on
trial observations, examination of court documents, and interviews,
outlines the problems in these proceedings such as the lack of
prosecution witnesses and out-of-court prosecution witnesses to
support the charges.It makes specific policy recommendations to
both the Afghan and U.S. governments, and provides insights on how
to improve the process of transferring detainees from U.S. custody
to their home countries for criminal prosecutions, but that any
such trials must be in accordance with international fair trial
standards.
Tortured Justice finds the Bush Administration has undercut its own
intended use of the military commission system at Guantanamo Bay by
allowing the admission of coerced evidence. The administration
sanctioned the use of harsh interrogation methods, claiming that
the need to protect the nation against another terrorist attack
took precedence over any future complications in prosecuting
terrorist suspects. For the first time in American history Congress
and the administration authorized the admission of coerced
confessions during criminal trials by including provisions in the
Military Commissions Act of 2006. The report focuses on six
Guantanamo prisoners who have alleged abuse while in custody and
also includes a chart identifying 62 other prisoners who allege
abuse, alongside the names of those they may have implicated. The
chart offers a stark visualization of the cross-contamination of
coerced evidence. For more information please visit
www.humanrightsfirst.org.
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