June, 14 2011, 01:50pm EDT
US: Bounced Around the Country
Detained Immigrants Moved Repeatedly, Impeding Hearings, New 1998-2010 Data Reveal
WASHINGTON
Detained immigrants facing deportation in the United States are being transferred, often repeatedly, to remote detention centers by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Human Rights Watch said today in a report analyzing 12 years of data.
The 37-page report, "A Costly Move: Far and Frequent Transfers Impede Hearings for Immigrant Detainees in the United States," says transfers separate detained immigrants, including legal permanent residents, refugees, and undocumented people, from the attorneys, witnesses, and evidence they need to defend against deportation. That can violate their right to fair treatment in court, slow down asylum or deportation proceedings, and extend their time in detention, Human Rights Watch said.
"Transfers don't just move people, they push aside their rights," said Alison Parker, US program director and author of the report. "They can prevent immigrants, like those lawfully here or in need of asylum from persecution, from having an attorney or defending their right to remain in the United States."
Interactive Dashboard: State by state breakdown, top 20 sending and receiving facilities >>
Human Rights Watch's analysis of 2 million transfer records over 12 years shows that over 46 percent of transferred detainees were moved two or more times. One egregious case involved a detainee who was transferred 66 times. On average, each transferred detainee traveled 370 miles; and one frequent transfer pattern (from Pennsylvania to Texas) covered 1,642 miles. Such long-distance and repetitive transfers can make attorney-client relationships unworkable, separate immigrants from the evidence they need to present in court, and make family visits so costly that they rarely, if ever, occur.
One immigration attorney said, "I have never represented someone who has not been in more than three detention facilities. Could be El Paso, Texas, a facility in Arizona, or they send people to Hawaii.... I have been practicing immigration law for more than a decade. Never once have I been notified of [my client's] transfer. Never."
Data tools produced by Human Rights Watch allow users to view maps of the United States, tracing the trajectories of the starting and ending points of the largest numbers of transfers. The tools also provide interactive graphs that provide users with state-by-state analysis and trends in detainee transfers across time.
The largest number of transfers between states involves detainees sent to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas - states within the jurisdiction of the federal Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. These are of particular concern, Human Rights Watch said, because that court is widely known for decisions that are hostile to immigrants and because the three states collectively have the worst ratio of immigration detainees to immigration attorneys in the country: 510 to 1.
A legal permanent resident originally from the Dominican Republic, who had been living in Philadelphia but was transferred to Texas, said, "I had to call to try to get the police records myself. It took a lot of time. The judge got mad that I kept asking for more time. But eventually they arrived. I tried to put on the case myself [without an attorney]. I lost."
With close to 400,000 immigrants in detention each year, space in detention centers, especially near cities where immigrants live, has not kept pace. As a result, ICE has built a detention system - relying on subcontracts with state jails and prisons - that cannot operate without transfers. In the 12 years analyzed in the report, ICE has carried out 2 million transfers involving 1 million immigrants. Between 2005 and 2009, the use of transfers more than doubled. And 57 percent of all detainee transfers moved people to and from subcontracted state or local criminal facilities, which transfer ICE detainees once again when they need the beds for state criminal inmates.
The report estimates that transportation alone for 2 million transfers has cost $366 million. But transferred detainees spend more than three times as long in detention as those who remain in the same place, so the greatest financial costs may come from court delays and extensive periods of incarceration, Human Rights Watch said.
Transfers have not significantly declined despite repeated promises by ICE to change its transfer practices. The agency has announced plans to create a new detention facility in New Jersey, closer to some cities where many immigrants live, and where their attorneys and witnesses are located. It has also instituted a detainee locator system, which now allows lawyers and family members to find their clients or loved ones after a transfer. The locator system does nothing to reduce the transfers.
Human Rights Watch acknowledged that some transfers are inevitable, but said that ICE and Congress should use reasonable and rights-protective checks on detainee transfers as the best state criminal justice systems do. The report recommends concrete steps to help create such a system.
"The ICE buses and planes that crisscross the United States bring dire consequences for detainees and for ICE," Parker said. "But so far ICE has taken few steps to end its dependence on this chaotic game of detainee musical chairs."
Human Rights Watch is one of the world's leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.
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Grand Jury Indicts Top Trump Aides, 11 Arizona Republicans Over 'Fake Electors' Scheme
Had it succeeded, said the state's attorney general, the scheme would have "deprived Arizona's voters of their right to have their votes counted for their chosen president."
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A grand jury in Arizona on Wednesday charged seven aides to Donald Trump and nearly a dozen Republican officials over a "fake electors" scheme in the state that aimed to keep the former president in power after his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden.
Trump, who is currently facing nearly 90 charges across four criminal cases as he runs for another White House term, was described as "unindicted co-conspirator 1" in the 58-page indictment, which was announced by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.
"The people of Arizona elected President Biden," Mayes, a Democrat, said Wednesday. "Unwilling to accept this fact, the defendants charged by the state grand jury allegedly schemed to prevent the lawful transfer of the presidency. Whatever their reasoning was, the plot to violate the law must be answered for."
The indictment names former Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward, sitting state Republican Sens. Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern, former U.S. Senate candidate Jim Lamon, and seven others as the "fake electors" who sought to declare Trump the rightful winner of the state's presidential contest.
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"It effectively would have made their right to vote meaningless," said Mayes.
A state grand jury, made up of everyday, regular Arizonans, has handed down felony indictments in the ongoing investigation into the fake elector scheme in Arizona. pic.twitter.com/Nu8GcD4ZqJ
— AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes (@AZAGMayes) April 24, 2024
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"Arizonans deserve to trust the election officials responsible for administering our elections and preserving our democracy," said Gulotta, "and this is a positive step forward as we continue to strengthen the foundations of our democracy and restore faith in our elections."
The Arizona Republicreported Wednesday that "several of the Arizona electors have previously claimed they were merely offering Congress a backup plan, though nothing in the documents they sent to Congress and the National Archives backs up that assertion."
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Jenny Guzman, director of Common Cause's Arizona program, said the indictment "marks the start of a new chapter for the fake elector scheme that has plagued Arizona."
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A campaign finance watchdog on Wednesday filed a Federal Election Commission complaint accusing former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, affiliated political groups, and an accounting firm of violating U.S. law in a scheme "seemingly designed to obscure the true recipients of a noteworthy portion of Trump's legal bills."
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Red Curve is a domestic limited liability company that offers compliance and FEC reporting services but does not appear to offer any legal services. It is managed by Bradley Crate, who also serves as the treasurer for each of the five Trump-affiliated committees concerned in this complaint, as well as over 200 other federal committees.
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Trump—who is the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee—faces 91 federal and state felony charges related to his role in the January 6 insurrection and his organization's business practices. He is currently on trial in New York for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 election cycle. The twice-impeached former president has been open about his use of campaign donations to pay his legal costs.
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