A report by Human Rights First discloses a wealth of hard-to-find information about the nation’s burgeoning immigration detention system. Jails and Jumpsuits: Transforming the U.S. Immigration Detention System—A Two-Year Review (2011) goes a long way to shattering the legal claim that immigration detention is a form of civil confinement. Though this report was published two years ago, I only recently came across it and found it very informative. Over and over, the report exposes immigration detention centers as using the same procedures as criminal jails. Detainees usually wear uniforms that [...]
ICE Risk Assessments: From Mass Detention to Mass Supervision?
Mark Noferi and Robert Koulish [Ed. Note: Today, Mark Noferi is joined by Professor Robert Koulish, a political scientist in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland who also teaches immigration law at Maryland’s Carey School of Law. Professor Koulish’s most recent book is “Immigration and American Democracy: Subverting the Rule of Law,” in which he examined immigration control as a laboratory for post-9/11 expansion of U.S. executive power, and he is co-editing “Immigration Detention, Risk and Human Rights—Studies on Immigration and Crime” (2014 release). His [...]
Detention & Due Process in S. 744: The NYC Bar Speaks Out, Part 2
Mark Noferi Yesterday, I highlighted the New York City Bar Association immigration committee’s advocacy for universal appointed counsel in immigration proceedings, as well as City Bar’s analysis of Senate Judiciary Committee amendments that would roll back the limited right provided by S. 744. (City Bar’s April 24 letter supporting appointed counsel is available here, and its statement here). Today, I’ll highlight City Bar’s advocacy for reduced detention, and its analysis of amendments that, similarly, roll back the advances provided by S. 744. (City Bar’s second letter supporting [...]
The Mentally Ill Immigrant & Due Process
Patty Corrales On April 23, 2013, a federal district judge ordered in the case of Franco-Gonzalez v. Holder, a class action lawsuit, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Attorney General, and the Executive Office of Immigration Review to provide legal representation to immigrant detainees with mental disabilities who are facing deportation and who are unable to adequately represent themselves in immigration hearings. Franco-Gonzalez v. Holder, No. CV 10-02211 DMG, slip op. (C.D. Cal. April 23, 2013) (Gee, J.). The ruling is the first of its kind for immigrant detainees who are [...]
Time to Rethink Immigration Detention
Last month’s release of immigrants from immigration detention centers brought praise from immigrants' rights advocates and impassioned criticism from conservative politicians. House Speaker John Boehner decried the decision to “let criminals go free” and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Bob Goodlatte added, "By releasing criminal immigrants onto the streets, the administration is needlessly endangering American lives." It was no surprise that the White House quickly distanced itself from last month's events. The Obama Administration has expanded the immigration detention population [...]
Scholars Sidebar: The Perverse Logic of Immigration Detention
A few months back the Columbia Journal of Race and Law published my short essay on the rational if unsavory growth of immigration imprisonment. César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, The Perverse Logic of Immigration Detention: Unraveling the Rationality of Imprisoning Immigrants Based on Markers of Race and Class Otherness, 1 Columbia Journal of Race and Law 353 (2012). So long as our immigration law enforcement policy prioritizes removal of people who have been convicted of a crime and our criminal law regime disproportionately impacts people of color, then, I argue, we will continue to rely on [...]
BIA: “Single offense” involving marijuana centers on acts not number of convictions
The BIA held that the exception to the controlled substances offense ground of removal for “a single offense involving possession for one’s own use of thirty grams or less of marijuana” turns on the noncitizen’s conduct rather than the number of offenses for which the noncitizen was convicted. Matter of Davey, 26 I&N Dec. 37 (BIA Oct. 23, 2012) (Cole, Pauley, and Greer, Board members). Member Pauley wrote the panel’s decision. This case involved a noncitizen convicted of possession of marijuana, Ariz. Rev. Statute § 13-3405(A)(1), and possession of drug paraphernalia (the plastic bag in [...]
ICE’s new prisoner transfer policy: Something old, something new
ICE’s new policy regarding prisoner transfers promises to shed more light on decisions to move prisoners from one facility to another, but relies heavily on requirements the agency has long imposed on itself without success and inadvertently identifies major reform obstacles that arise from its heavy reliance on private prison operators. U.S. Immigr. & Customs Enforcement, Policy 11022.1: Detainee Transfers (Jan. 4, 2012). The policy announced in January 2012 makes some significant improvements by recognizing the impact of transfers and the reality of immigrant relationships. For example, [...]