Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Newsvine
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiWASHINGTON - The United States has failed to uphold its international obligations to protect the human rights of migrants, subjecting too many to prolonged detention in substandard facilities while depriving them of an adequate appeals process and labor protections, a United Nations investigator said.
In the international body's first scrutiny of US treatment of its 37.5 million noncitizen migrants, UN investigator Jorge Bustamante on Friday took particular aim at what he criticized as the "overuse" of detention for immigrants.
Noting that the annual detainee population has tripled in nine years to 230,000, he called on the United States to eliminate mandatory detention for certain migrants and instead expand the use of alternatives, such as electronic ankle bracelets.
Bustamante also urged that migrants be given the right to legal counsel, more impartial hearings, and improved holding facilities, particularly for women and children.
"The United States lacks a clear, consistent, long-term strategy to improve respect for the human rights of migrants," said his report, which was presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Friday. Bustamante serves as the body's Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants.
In a statement to the council, the US delegation called the report disappointing.
The report "focuses only on a narrow slice of the migrant population in the United States and makes no effort to recognize notable, positive aspects of US migration policy," the statement said. "This results in an incomplete and biased picture of the human rights of migrants."
The delegation said the United States had one of the world's most generous immigration policies, offering more than 11 million migrants green cards, citizenship, asylum, refugee resettlement, and temporary protected status between 2000 and 2006. The UN estimates that global migrants number 200 million, with the United States by far the largest haven with 35 million as of 2000.
Kelly Nantel, spokeswoman for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also criticized Bustamante, saying he did not adequately consider the voluminous information provided him by US officials documenting migrant protections in place here.
Those include the right to seek administrative review of detention and deportation decisions, along with access to federal courts to challenge removal orders.
Bustamante "has made a number of inaccurate or misleading claims and has drawn sweeping conclusions that appear to be based on anecdotal evidence from a small sample of individuals, for which he fails to provide appropriate evidence and reasoning," Nantel said.
At the US government's invitation, Bustamante visited seven cities last year to interview dozens of migrants, community activists, immigration attorneys, and senior government officials.
He toured the US-Mexican border and visited an Arizona federal detention center but was denied access to facilities in Texas and New Jersey.
© 2008 The Los Angeles Times
8 Comments so far
Show All"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
Perhaps the Statue of Liberty should be returned to France with the remark that it is no longer needed or wanted.
------------------------------------------------------------
Professor give me a break!
These are not IMMIGRANTS but illegal aliens that have no business here.
As I type I have to listen to Mexican music like I'm in Mexico now!
These people have no respect for anything but stealing our money and jobs. An illegal alien just out of prison has been arrested for murdering a Black American!
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-shaw12mar12,0,2842133.story
Alleged gang member arrested in Mid-City football star's death
Why doesn't this article and the Professor mention any of this?
I hope the Statue of Liberty is sent back to France.
It is outdated. We have allowed too many people here.
Immigration is out of control!
meanwhile, in the real world, these folks are being worked hard, exploited, and abused for our benefit.
Ah, yes, but for whose benefit? And are they actually taking jobs no one else wants? Who's really towing the Bush line? Look past the propaganda, then you see who's benefiting the most. It's most likely not you or me. You are right though, exploitation is the operative word.
Boy, this subject brings 'em out from the wainscoting, doesn't it?
Silly of me to expect a reasoned response to such a question. This is after all America, land of the Buchananite and Paulista nativists, where we only welcome refugees with open arms these days if they're, YOU KNOW, from the right countries. *coughCubercough*
And the ever-popular "they want everything handed to them" whine... meanwhile, in the real world, these folks are being worked hard, exploited, and abused for our benefit.
Under the bush White House, the US has failed at so many things, this is just one more item on a long list. Sad.
"Maybe the US is tired of taking in the whole world. Everyone that migrates here comes with a sense of entitlement."
--Many of us are tired (or will soon get tired) of paying the bill for this, while others profit and, in some cases, are even denied the care WE need. How can this NOT engender resentment? But for many it seems to be politically 'incorrect' to go after the profiteers and perpetrators of this lose-lose scheme.
When the economy tanks as it soon will, there won't be jobs for ANYONE, including the undocumented service sector, and no money for immigration enforcement. You'll see the real underbelly of the beast then.
The so-called 'undocumented' will assert their muscle, and they are not as weak and demoralized as the rest of us. And I seriously doubt they will tolerate continued exploitation at the hands of their bosses (for the ones that still have jobs). Should get interesting, but not necessarily in a good way.
'"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
Perhaps the Statue of Liberty should be returned to France with the remark that it is no longer needed or wanted.'
--Sorry, but there's nothing in this world without limits. Each must ask himself how much he personally is willing to sacrifice, and answer honestly. If immigration is not orderly and does not allow for pragmatic integration, it will, of necessity, destroy and/or exhaust the resources of any society (really, just simple logic here), which is what is actually happening at present--while corporate criminals laugh all the way to the bank.
It will also inevitably lead to a 'culture war.' Do you believe those swarming in actually LIKE their exploiters, or are they merely waiting for the opportunity to assert their own Independence?
Time will till.
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
Perhaps the Statue of Liberty should be returned to France with the remark that it is no longer needed or wanted.
"In the international body's first scrutiny of US treatment of its 37.5 million noncitizen migrants, UN investigator Jorge Bustamante on Friday took particular aim at what he criticized as the "overuse" of detention for immigrants."
How many "non-citizen" migrants have broken the law to be in the U.S.? How many "citizens" of the U.S. who have broken the law are in prison?
Personally, Mr. Bustamante, I would rather be in a detention center for breaking the law than be in prison. Non-citizen migrants will be sent back home while the incarcerated will remain in jail for any given number of years. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me after knowingly breaking the law.
Why don't U.N. investigators "take aim" at, and criticize the broken promises of NAFTA and other trade agreements along with their "overuse" of cheap labor?
Maybe the US is tired of taking in the whole world. Everyone that migrates here comes with a sense of entitlement. Migrants have no rights and if they don't like the way they are being treated here they should turn around and go back to where ever they came from. What did they expect when they got here? They expect everything to be handed to them: food, shelter, clothing and job. Why don't they migrate to China since that's where all our jobs went. The American dream died back in the mid 1960's. The US has become a dumping ground for undesirables.