In writing this blog post, I have to say that I have learned a tremendous amount about our current immigration system.  All we, as consumers of the mass media, get from our daily portions of television and smatterings of chatter from hallway conversation are a couple key words like: fences, illegal, fewer jobs, rising healthcare costs, etc.  However, we rarely have the opportunity to hear or see the plight of those individuals that are swept up into the immigration system and are never heard from again. 

Persons who are detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) are subject to ICE’s National Detention Standards, which outline basic policy and procedural guidelines of detention at ICE facilities.  While at these facilities, detainees are subject to physical restraint, limited privacy, and restricted access to family, friends or legal counsel.  Reports show that overcrowding is a major problem, and in some instances, detainees are placed criminals in the Bureau of Prisons system.  Such commingling has led to increased violence or threats of violence towards detainees.  More disturbing is the impact that our immigration system has upon non-citizen children.    Children are subject to physical restraint, physical and/or verbal abuse, lack of educational services, and excessive discipline.  The Constitution Project outlines these challenges of our immigration system and potential ways our government can remedy the situation.

Another issue is where detainees are transferred to various ICE detention facilities across the lower region of the United States.  Such continuous transferring of detainees makes it nearly impossible for immigration attorneys, attempting to represent the detained individuals, to afford the high cost of travel.  In 2008, the Constitution Project reports that of the 274,469 removal proceedings against non-citizens, only 40% had counsel represent them.  Moreover, Human Rights Watch reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which has jurisdiction over the largest number of transferred detainees, is also deemed as the most hostile judicial body in the federal circuit towards non-citizens.  These two points are coupled with the fact that the Fifth Circuit’s jurisdiction also has the lowest ratio of immigration attorneys to immigration detainees. 

So, as I said, I learned quite a bit from writing this blog post.  I only hope that this Congress has the strength to stand up and do something about it.