To the Obama Administration: Stop Treating Immigrants Like Criminals

The Obama Administration recently commissioned a report on immigration detention.  The report, written by Dora Schriro, an expert on correctional policy, examines some of the fundamental flaws in the current system, and makes some important recommendations for reform.  As any immigration attorney who has ever represented a detained client knows, immigration detainees are too often treated like criminals, even when they have no prior criminal record.  

Dr. Schriro made an important observation in her report: “As a matter of law, Immigration Detention is unlike Criminal Incarceration. Yet Immigration Detention and Criminal Incarceration detainees tend to be … managed in similar ways.  Each group is ordinarily detained in secure facilities with hardened perimeters in remote locations at considerable distances from counsel and/or their communities.”

Based on the report’s findings, the Obama Administration is considering reforming the current system by housing some detainees in alternative facilities such as converted hotels and nursing homes.  While this is a step in the right direction, it does not go far enough.  The Administration should expand alternatives to detention, such as electronic monitoring and mandatory reporting.  In addition to being more humane, these programs save the taxpayers money.

Tags: detention reform, Dora Schriro, electronic monitoring, ICE, immigration detention, incarceration, mandatory detention
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