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New Report: Legitimate Refugees Being Redefined as "Terrorists"
Since 2001, U.S. immigration policy changes intended to protect the United States from terrorists are hurting thousands of legitimate refugees who pose no threat to the United States. A new Human Rights First report offers a series of recommendations to fix this serious problem.
Read the full report / summary
Read Washington Post article on HRF report (11/12/09)
Listen to NPR/WAMU story on HRF report (11/13/09)
(11/11/09)
Human Rights First Welcomes Detention Reforms Announced by DHS Further reforms needed to limit risk of prolonged detention
(10/06/09)
Human Rights First delivers statement on U.S. detention of asylum seekers to UN Human Rights Council
On September 17, 2009, the 12th Session of the Human Rights Council held a panel on migrant detention. HRF's Andrew Hudson delivered a statement that highlighted the U.S. practice of detaining asylum seekers, and the steps that the U.S. and other States must take to reform immigration detention procedures that are inconsistent with international human rights standards.
Read HRF statement to HRC panel
View HRF's Andrew Hudson delivering statement to HRC panel
Read UNHCR statement to HRC panel
Read U.S. statement to HRC panel
(09/17/09)
Positive First Steps on Reforming Immigration Detention
HRF applauds the Obama Administration's decision to overhaul the nation's flawed immigration detention system. This overhaul will not be effective without a thorough reform of the process for deciding who is detained after entering the U.S. and for how long.
Read press release (8/6/09)
Read DHS announcement (8/6/09)
Read blog post from HRF Advocacy Counsel Annie Sovcik (8/7/09)
Read op-ed from USCIRF vice-chairs in Miami Herald (8/15/09)
Read HRF report, U.S. Detention of Asylum Seekers: Seeking Protection, Finding Prison
Take action to support recent detention reform legislation in the Senate
HRF Report: "U.S. Detention of Asylum Seekers: Seeking Protection, Finding Prison"
Since 2003, U.S. immigration authorities have spent more than $300 million to detain over 48,000 asylum seekers in jails and jail-like facilities. Some of the facilities are located in remote areas, far from legal representation. Asylum seekers are detained in a system that lacks basic due process safeguards and is inconsistent with America's longstanding commitment to protect those who flee from persecution. The report outlines ways to improve this process in ways that are more cost-effective, just, and humane.
Read a summary version of the report
Read the Department of Homeland Security's response to our report.
Art Spiegelman cartoon in the Washington Post citing HRF report
NYTimes article citing the report and featuring an HRF asylum client
Supreme Court issues decision on "persecutor" bar to asylum
On March 3, 2009, the Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision holding that the so-called “persecutor bar,” which prohibits granting refugee protection to anyone who “ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in the persecution” of another person, applied without regard to whether a refugee’s involvement in acts of persecution was the result of coercion. In its March 3rd decision in Negusie v. Holder, the Supreme Court held that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Board of Immigration Appeals had mistakenly relied on a prior Supreme Court decision in ruling that duress was irrelevant to the application of the persecutor bar. The Supreme Court stated that its 1981 decision in Fedorenko v. United States did not apply to this case because it concerned the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 rather than the relevant Refugee Act of 1980. The Court remanded the Negusie case so that the Board of Immigration Appeals could interpret the “persecutor bar” of the Refugee Act in the first instance.
As the Supreme Court has previously recognized and noted again in this decision, Congress passed the Refugee Act in order to implement the United States’ obligations under the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. The Court’s decision in Negusie gives the Board of Immigration Appeals the opportunity to fulfill those obligations by recognizing that the persecutor bar applies only to culpable, voluntary acts, as other states parties to the Convention and the Protocol have done. As Justice Stevens noted in a separate opinion, “[w]ithout an exception for involuntary action, the Refuge Act’s bar would . . . treat entire classes of victims as persecutors.”
The Court’s decision was written by Justice Kennedy, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia, Souter, Ginsburg, and Alito, with a concurring opinion by Justice Scalia (joined by Justice Alito) and an opinion by Justice Stevens (joined by Justice Breyer) concurring in part and dissenting in part. Justice Thomas dissented. The read the decision, click here
The petitioner in this case was represented by the law firm of Mayer Brown LLP and the Supreme Court Clinic at Yale Law School. Human Rights First helped coordinate amicus briefing in the case and submitted an amicus brief describing the range of refugees who could be affected by the ultimate decision in this case. To read the amicus brief, click here
For additional information about this issue, please contact Anwen Hughes at HughesA@humanrightsfirst.org.
(03/09/09)
DHS Reforms Inadequate to Protect Detained Asylum Seekers
On November 28, 2008, the Department of Homeland Security issued a "status report" on its implementation of the 2005 recommendations of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on detention of asylum seekers.
Human Rights First has analyzed DHS's response to USCIRF's recommendations in this chart. Our analysis suggests that despite some areas of progress, DHS has failed to implement many recommendations that are crucial to refugee protection.
In a letter on January 8, 2009, USCIRF responded to DHS's "status report," saying that few of DHS's efforts accurately followed the recommendations or adequately addressed the problems identified in the USCIRF report.
Read original USCIRF report (February 2005)
Read USCIRF report card (February 2007)
Senators Introduce Bi-Partisan Bill Addressing Immigration Detention
A bipartisan group of Senators introduced the 2008 Secure and Safe Detention and Asylum Act, S. 3114 on June 11, 2008. The bill addresses a number of the issues raised in the 2005 U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom report on the detention of asylum seekers. The bill provides for immigration court hearings on detention, nationwide alternatives to detention for immigrants, and improvements to medical care in immigration detention.
Read 2008 Secure and Safe Detention and Asylum Act
Read HRF Statement commending Senators
Read the Senate Statement on the Bill
Read Letter from Faith, Human Rights and Other Groups urging Support
To learn more, click here
Medical care deficient in US immigration detention
Impact on asylum seekers and immigrants documented by The Washington Post and 60 Minutes.
Listen to HRF pro bono attorney and refugee client
Click here to read the Detainee Basic Medical Care Act
Learn more about US detention of asylum seekers
USCIS Announces Hold on Denials
On March 26, 2008, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it would halt denials under the "material support" and "terrorism" bars in cases where the authority to waive these provisions exists, but has not yet been implemented by the Department of Homeland Security. Among the refugees and asylees who had been denied adjustment based on these sweeping "terrorism" provisions were some who opposed Saddam Hussein in the 1990s.
Read the letter to DHS Secretary Chertoff from Human Rights First and 18 groups
Read the March 23 Washington Post article and March 27 Washington Post article
For more information, see the March 2008 Asylum Newsletter and click here.
(04/14/08)New U.S. Detention Directive May Leave Asylum Seekers in U.S. Immigration Jails for Even Longer
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a new directive relating to the detention and parole of asylum seekers in the United States. The directive, issued in November 2007, rescinds prior guidance that provided that asylum seekers should be considered for parole if they satisfy a set of requirements (including that their identities are established, and that they present no risk of flight or harm to the community). The directive appears aimed at further limiting the release of asylum seekers from U.S. immigration jails.
On February 19, 2008, Human Rights First and over 80 organizations and legal experts sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security expressing their concern that the directive is inconsistent with the recommendations of the bi-partisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and with this country's commitments to those who seek protection from persecution.
Read HRF Statement on New Detention Policy
Read HRF Letter to ICE on Concerns about Shift in US Detention Policy (PDF - 251KB)
Read USCIRF response to new ICE parole directive (12/14/07)
Read Sign-On Letter to DHS (2/19/07)
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