Immigration detention is the policy of holding individuals suspected of visa violations,
illegal entryIllegal entry is the act of foreign nationals arriving in or crossing the borders into a country in violation of its immigration law.Migrants from nations that do not have automatic visa agreements, or who would not otherwise qualify for a visa, often cross the borders illegally in some areas like...
or
unauthorised arrivalAn unauthorised arrival is a person who has arrived in a country when they are not a citizen of that country and does not have a valid visa or does not satisfy other required conditions for entry to that country....
, and those subject to deportation and removal in
detentionDetention is the process when a state, government or citizen lawfully holds a person by removing their freedom of liberty at that time. This can be due to criminal charges being raised against the individual as part of a prosecution or to protect a person or property...
until a decision is made by
immigrationImmigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
authorities to grant a
visaA visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
and release them into the community, or to
repatriateRepatriation is the process of returning a person back to one's place of origin or citizenship. This includes the process of returning refugees or soldiers to their place of origin following a war...
them to their country of departure.
Mandatory detention is the practice of compulsorily detaining or
imprisoningA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
people seeking political asylum, or who are considered to be
illegal immigrantsIllegal immigration is the migration into a nation in violation of the immigration laws of that jurisdiction. Illegal immigration raises many political, economical and social issues and has become a source of major controversy in developed countries and the more successful developing countries.In...
or
unauthorised arrivalAn unauthorised arrival is a person who has arrived in a country when they are not a citizen of that country and does not have a valid visa or does not satisfy other required conditions for entry to that country....
s into a country.
Asia
Several Asian nations are known to imprison immigrants on visa violations or for alleged
traffickingHuman trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...
, including the victims of trafficking and
smugglingSmuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
. These include
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
,
Malaysia, and
IndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
.
Japan
Three main detention centers:
- Higashi Nihon Nyukoku Kanri Center (East Japan Immigration Detention Center )
- Capacity : 700
- Ushiku
is a city located in Ibaraki, Japan.As of 2010, the city has an estimated population of 81,532 and a density of 1,380 persons per km². The total area is 58.88 km²....
, Ibarakiis a prefecture of Japan, located in the Kantō region on the main island of Honshu. The capital is Mito.-History:Ibaraki Prefecture was previously known as Hitachi Province...
- Nishi Nihon Nyukoku Kanri Center (West Japan Immigration Detention Center )
- Ibaraki
is a city located in Osaka, Japan. It is a suburban city of Osaka city and a part of Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe metropolitan area. Literally Ibaraki in English means Wild Trees or Thorny trees....
, Osakais a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
- Omura Nyukoku Kanri Center (Omura Immigration Detention Center )
- Capacity : : 800
- Omura
is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. As of January 1, 2009, the city has an estimated population of 89,891. The total area is 126.33 km², and includes Nagasaki Airport.-History:...
, Nagasakiis the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...
Australia
In
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, immigration detention was revived in 1992 for all foreigners who arrive in Australia without a visa. That only 'border applicants' are subject to detention has sparked criticism, as it is claimed to unfairly discriminate against certain migrants. Other unlawful non-citizens, such as those that overstay their visas, are generally granted bridging visas while their applications are processed, and are therefore free to move around the community. The long-term detention of immigrant children has also sparked criticism of the practice by citizen's groups such as
ChilOutChilOut is a group opposed to the mandatory imprisonment of children under 18 in immigration detention centres in Australia...
and
human rightsHuman rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
organisations. Nonetheless, the High Court of Australia has confirmed, albeit by majority, the constitutionality of indefinite mandatory detention of aliens. This and related decisions have been the subject of considerable academic critique.
Australia has also sub-contracted with other nations to detain would-be immigrants offshore, including
IndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
,
Papua New GuineaPapua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
, and
NauruNauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just...
. Australia also maintains an
offshore detention facilityChristmas Island Immigration Reception and Processing Centre or commonly just Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre, is an Australian immigration detention facility located on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.- History:...
on
Christmas IslandThe Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is located northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and ENE of the Cocos Islands....
. In July 2008, the Australian government announced it was ending its policy of automatic detention for asylum seekers who arrive in the country without visas, however by November 2011, nothing has changed.
Netherlands
In the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, foreigners who fail to obtain a residence status can be detained prior to deportation, as to prevent them from avoiding deportation. Detention centers are located in
ZaandamZaandam is a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad, and received city rights in 1811...
,
ZeistZeist is a municipality and a town in the central Netherlands, located east of the city of Utrecht.-Population centres :*Austerlitz*Bosch en Duin*Den Dolder*Huis ter Heide*Zeist- The town of Zeist :...
, and Alphen aan de Rijn. Besides these detention centers there are deportation centers in Schiphol and Rotterdam (At
Rotterdam AirportRotterdam The Hague Airport , located north northwest of Rotterdam, is the Netherlands' third largest airport, coming after Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Eindhoven Airport...
).
Immigration detention in the Netherlands is criticed for the circumstances immigrants are held in, which is often worse than that of criminal detainees.
Italy
In
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, the situation is mostly the same than in Netherlands: foreigners can be sent to "CIE" (identification and expulsion centres) for not having their document. This, however, is not a crime.
It has been reported by many non-governative associations that the condition inside the centres are "inhuman"
Portugal
In
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, the
Ministry of InteriorThe Ministry of the Internal Administration or MAI, is the Portuguese Government department responsible for the public security, the civil defense, the electoral administration, the road traffic safety and the immigration and refugee affairs.The MAI was created in 1736, by King John V of Portugal,...
is responsible for immigration matters. The country currently has one officially designated immigration detention centre, located in
PortoPorto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
. Opened in 2006, the centre is managed by the luke Immigration and Borders Service.
- Unidade Habitational de Sao Antonio
The Unidade Habitational de Sao Antonio , opened in 2006, is an immigration detention centre located in Porto. As of 2009, it was the only officially designated detention centre for immigrants in Portugal. The centre is managed by the Portuguese Immigration and Borders Service and falls under the...
Ukraine
In
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
"Temporary Detention Centres" are run by the
State Border Guard Service of UkraineState Border Guard Service of Ukraine is the border guard of Ukraine. It is an independent law enforcement agency of special assignment, the head of which is subordinated to the President of Ukraine...
, responsible to the
PresidentPrior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
.
United Kingdom
The
UK Border AgencyThe UK Border Agency is the border control body of the United Kingdom government and part of the Home Office. It was formed on 1 April 2008 by a merger of the Border and Immigration Agency , UKvisas and the Detection functions of HM Revenue and Customs...
has thirteen detention centres, known as Immigration Removal Centres, which are used to hold asylum seekers on their arrival in the UK
or whilst waiting for their case to be decided
and failed asylum seekers waiting to be deported.
Some of the centres are operated by private companies on behalf of the UK Border Agency.
The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act (2002) formally changed the name of "detention centres" to "removal centres".
The centres are:
- Campsfield House
Campsfield House is a privately run Immigration detention Centre near Oxford, England. It has been the site of a number of protests from human rights campaigners and has seen a number of hunger strikes and one suicide. The former Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons condemned conditions at...
in OxfordshireOxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
run by MITIE GroupMITIE Group PLC is a British strategic outsourcing and energy services company with their head office in Bristol, and more than 200 smaller offices throughout the UK and Ireland. MITIE operates mainly in the UK and Ireland with a growing presence in Europe...
- Brook House near Gatwick Airport which is run by G4S Group
- Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre
Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre is located in Harmondsworth, London Borough of Hillingdon. Colnbrook, adjacent to Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre and London Heathrow Airport, houses males and females. Colnbrook, which opened in August 2004, is built to Class B prison standards, making...
near Heathrow which is run by Serco
- Dover Immigration Removal Centre
Dover Immigration Removal Centre is an immigration detention centre, located in the historic citadel of the Western Heights fortifications in Dover, England. The centre is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service...
which is run by the HM Prison Service
- Dungavel
Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre is an immigration detention facility in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, near the town of Strathaven that is also known as Dungavel Castle or Dungavel House...
in LanarkshireLanarkshire or the County of Lanark ) is a Lieutenancy area, registration county and former local government county in the central Lowlands of Scotland...
run by G4S Group
- Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre also near Heathrow which is run by GEO Group
The GEO Group, Inc. is a company headquartered in One Park Place, Boca Raton, Florida. GEO is a multi-national provider of governmental services specializing in the management of correctional, detention and mental health and residential treatment in North America, Australia, South Africa and the...
- Haslar Immigration Removal Centre
Haslar Immigration Removal Centre is an immigration detention centre, located in Haslar , Hampshire, England. The centre is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.-History:...
which is run by the HM Prison Service
- Larne House, Larne
Larne is a substantial seaport and industrial market town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland with a population of 18,228 people in the 2001 Census. As of 2011, there are about 31,000 residents in the greater Larne area. It has been used as a seaport for over 1,000 years, and is...
, Antrim- Northern Ireland :* County Antrim, one of the counties of Northern Ireland* Antrim, County Antrim, the town* Antrim railway station, serving the town of Antrim* Antrim , an administrative division...
which is run by Reliance Secure Task Management
- Lindholme Prison
HM Prison Lindholme is a Category C men's prison and Immigration Removal Centre, located near Hatfield Woodhouse in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England...
, near DoncasterDoncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
which is run by the HM Prison Service
- Morton Hall
Morton Hall is a small village, located in the parish of Swinderby in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated to the southwest of Lincoln, and is near to the larger villages of Swinderby, Thorpe on the Hill, and Eagle Barnsdale. Morton Hall is served by Swinderby...
, near Newark-United Kingdom:* Newark-on-Trent, a market town in Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands region of England and the oldest Newark** Newark * Newark, Peterborough in Cambridgeshire...
which is run by the HM Prison Service
- Pennine House, at Manchester Airport which is run by the Reliance Secure Task Management
- Tinsley House near Gatwick Airport which is run by Global Solutions Limited
-Biology:* Glycosphingolipids, a subtype of glycolipids containing the amino alcohol sphingosine-Companies and organizations:* Geological Society of London* Ghana School of Law...
- Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre
Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre is an immigration detention centre at Milton Ernest in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire. It opened on 19 November 2001 and was built to hold up to 900 people making it the largest immigration detention centre in Europe at the time. Since opening in 2001...
in BedfordshireBedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
run by Serco
The former
Oakington Immigration Reception CentreOakington Immigration Reception Centre was a UK Home Office immigration detention centre located in Cambridgeshire, England.Originally a World War II airfield, RAF Oakington, during the war it was used for Short Stirling bomber forces, as well as other assorted units...
near
CambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
was closed in November 2010.
Additionally, some prisons detain migrants or asylum seekers purely under Immigration Act powers, usually if they have been serving a prison sentence which has expired. There are also four short term holding facilities in Manchester, Dover, Harwich and Colnbrook.
The British government has been given powers to detain asylum seekers and migrants at any stage of the asylum process. The use of asylum has increased with the introduction of the process of 'fast track', or the procedure by which the Immigration Service assess asylum claims which are capable of being decided quickly. Fast-tracking takes place in Oakington Reception Centre, Harmondsworth and Yarl's Wood.
There are three situations in which it is lawful to detain an asylum seeker or migrant.
- To fast track their claim
- If the government has reasonable grounds to believe that the asylum seeker or migrant will abscond or not abide by the conditions of entry.
- If the asylum seeker or migrant is about to be deported.
Figures published for January - March 2008 by the
Home OfficeThe Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
revealed the following:
- 2305 people were detained in 'removal centres' in the UK under Immigration Act powers (this figure excludes those held in prisons)
- 1980 immigration detainees were male
- 35 children under 18 were detained
- 1640 detainees had claimed asylum at some stage
Once detained it is possible to apply for bail. It is preferable but not necessary to provide a surety and conditions will be provided, usually reporting, if bail is granted. There is legal aid for representation at bail hearings and the organisation Bail for Immigration Detainees provides help and assistance for those subject to detention to represent themselves.
Since summer 2005 there has been an increase in the detention of foreign nationals since the
Charles ClarkeCharles Rodway Clarke is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Norwich South from 1997 until 2010, and served as Home Secretary from December 2004 until May 2006.-Early life:...
scandal which revealed that there were a number of foreign nationals who had committed crimes and had not been deported at the end of their sentence.
Criticism of immigration detention focuses on comparisons with prison conditions in which persons are kept though they have never been convicted of a crime, the lack of
judicial oversightJudicial oversight describes an aspect of the separation of powers prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, specifically the process whereby independent courts may review and restrain actions of the administrative and legislative branches...
, and on the lengthy bureaucratic delays that often prevent a person from being released, particularly when there is no evidence that the detainee will present a harm or a burden to society if allowed to remain at large while their situation is examined.
Recently, the conditions of detention centres have been criticised, by the United Kingdom Inspector of Prisons.
Refugee deaths (UK)
There have been a number of suicides and deaths in UK Detention Centres, including:
- Bereket Yohannes 2006 at Harmondsworth
Harmondsworth is a village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, close to London Heathrow Airport. The village is situated south of West Drayton.The nearest places are: Hayes, Harlington, Heathrow Airport, Longford, London, Sipson, West Drayton and Yiewsley....
Detention Centre
- Manuel Bravo
- Ramazan Kumluca
- Kenny Peter
- Tran Quang Tung
- Sergey Barnuyck 2004 at Harmondsworth
Harmondsworth is a village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, close to London Heathrow Airport. The village is situated south of West Drayton.The nearest places are: Hayes, Harlington, Heathrow Airport, Longford, London, Sipson, West Drayton and Yiewsley....
Detention Centre
- Mikhail Bognarchuk
- Robertas Grabys
- Abiy Fessfha Abebe
- Michael Bravo
see fuller article
deaths in custodyDeath in custody is when a person dies when in the custody of the police, prison service or other authorities. Death in custody remains a controversial subject, with the authorities often being accused of abuse, neglect, racism and cover-ups of the causes of these deaths...
The Tinsley Model
In 1996 Immigration Detention Centre Tinsley House was commissioned. It was the first purpose-built immigration detention facility in the United Kingdom and was initially managed by the British subsidiary of the American Wackenhut Corporation.
The original senior management of Tinsley House, specifically the Centre Director and its Operations Manager, pioneered an adapted version of Wackenhut’s philosophy of ‘Dynamic Security’ which promoted a regime of caring custody emphasising positive relations between staff and detainees and encouraging the respectful and sensitive handling of all detainee related issues.
This concerned approach towards detainee management was quickly embraced by the centre’s chaplain who reinforced the existing commitment to caring custody through the creation of specialised training programmes for the centre’s staff and by increasing the size and diversity of the centre’s chaplaincy team.
With the active support of the centre’s senior management, the Tinsley House chaplaincy set about the task of addressing in detail the dietary, cultural, religious and social needs of the centre’s population inviting a variety of religious ministers and representatives of cultural groups to attend the centre to provide pastoral support. Tinsley House became the first detention centre in the United Kingdom to operate an intense regime of religious and cultural observance and to operate a diversity of permanent religious facilities.
The attention to religious and cultural needs combined with an overt commitment on the part of the detention centre staff towards treating those in their custody with care and sensitivity began to impact the environment and operations at Tinsley House. Detainees would write messages of appreciation to members of staff noting their efforts of assistance and staff would regularly form respectful friendships with those in their charge.
The product of this regime, which became known as the ‘Tinsley Model’ was to result in an environment which, during its first decade of operations, incurred no incidence of death, riot or disturbance. A performance never before achieved in the history of the UK Immigration Service.
The ‘Tinsley Model’ attracted the attention of HRH The Prince of Wales as well as numerous religious and political leaders and was cited as being a graphic example of empirical evidence proving the effectiveness of ‘caring custody’.
In December 2001 the senior chaplain of Tinsley House authored a report to the Home Secretary detailing the essence of the Tinsley Model, recording its positive effects and outlining how this regime might be exported throughout the Immigration estate. The report was signed by sixteen Bishops, four leading Muslim clerics, representatives of the Sikh and Hindu communities, four members of the House of Lords and the Member of Parliament for Crawley.
The Home Office response to this proposal was to pass it to the Immigration Minister who forwarded it to the head of the Immigration Service who in turn requested that it be actioned by the director responsible for Detention Operations. The Detention Operations department of the Immigration Service did not accept the findings of the report and expressed their displeasure at the centre’s operating company (now Group 4) for ‘interfering’ in government policy issues and which resulted in the suspension of the centre’s senior chaplain.
A month after this report was published; the newest facility in the Immigration estate, the £40m Yarl’s Wood detention centre near Bedford was largely destroyed by fire as a result of altercations between staff and detainees.
With a lack of support from the Immigration Service, the introduction of Group 4 (with its largely prison based philosophies) to the management of Tinsley House and the departure of the centre’s original management team including its senior chaplain, the ‘Tinsley Model’ became increasingly difficult to maintain resulting in a decline in the centre's previously caring regime.
United States
In the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, a similar practice began in the early 1980s with
HaitiHaiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
ans and
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
ns detained at Guantanamo Bay, and other groups such as
ChineseThe term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
in jails and detention centres on the mainland. The practice was made mandatory by legislation passed in 1996 in response to the
Oklahoma City bombingThe Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...
, and has come under criticism from organizations such as
Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
,
Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
,
Human Rights FirstHuman Rights First is a nonprofit, nonpartisan human rights organization based in New York City and Washington, D.C....
, all of whom have released major studies of the subject, and the ACLU About 31,000 non-citizens are held in immigration detention on any given day, including children, in over 200 detention centres, jails, and prisons nationwide.
One of the most recent facilities to open is the
T. Don Hutto Residential CenterThe T. Don Hutto Residential Center is a guarded, fenced-in, multi-purpose center currently used to detain non-US citizens awaiting the outcome of their immigration status. The center is located at 1001 Welch Street in the city of Taylor, Texas, within Williamson County...
, which opened in 2006 specifically to house non-criminal families. There are other significant facilities in
Elizabeth, New JerseyElizabeth is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 124,969, retaining its ranking as New Jersey's fourth largest city with an increase of 4,401 residents from its 2000 Census population of 120,568...
,
Oakdale, LouisianaOakdale is a small city in Allen Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 8,137 at the 2000 census.Oakdale was founded as "Dunnsville" by William T. Dunn...
,
Florence, Arizona-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 17,054 people, 2,226 households, and 1,540 families residing in the town. The population density was 2,056.2 people per square mile . There were 3,216 housing units at an average density of 387.7 per square mile...
,
Miami, FloridaMiami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, Seattle,
York, PennsylvaniaYork, known as the White Rose City , is a city located in York County, Pennsylvania, United States which is in the South Central region of the state. The population within the city limits was 43,718 at the 2010 census, which was a 7.0% increase from the 2000 count of 40,862...
, Batavia, New York,
Aguadilla, Puerto RicoAguadilla , founded in 1775 by Luis de Córdova, is a city located in the northwestern tip of Puerto Rico bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, north of Aguada, and Moca and west of Isabela. Aguadilla is spread over 15 wards and Aguadilla Pueblo...
and all along the
TexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
-
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
border.
About 104 mostly young individuals have died in detention of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement or shortly afterwards during the five years between 2003 to 2008, and medical neglect may have contributed to 30 of those deaths. On August 6, 2008, 34 year old New Yorker
Hiu Lui NgHiu Lui Ng a.k.a Jason Ng was a 34 year old New Yorker who died on August 5 or 6, 2008 in the custody of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.The editors of The New York Times condemned the death, writing that Mr...
died in the detention of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The editors of
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
condemned the death and urged that the system must be fixed. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stated that the number of deaths per capita in detention is dramatically lower for ICE detainees than for U.S. prison and jail populations, that they provide "the best possible healthcare" and that the nation as a whole is "experiencing severe shortages of qualified health professionals" In May 2008 Congress began considering a bill to set new standards for immigrant detainee healthcare.
In 2009, the Obama Administration pledged to overhaul the current immigration detention system and transform it into one that is less punitive and subject to greater federal oversight. Immigrants' rights advocates, however, have expressed concern that these reform efforts "have been undermined by the agency’s continued overreliance on penal incarceration practices and by the pervasive anti-reform culture at local ICE field offices."
See also
- Dawn raid
A police raid or dawn raid is a visit by the police, immigration officers or other officials in the early morning, hoping to use the element of surprise to arrest targets that they think may hide evidence, resist arrest, be politically sensitive, or simply be elsewhere during the day.-Germany:Dawn...
- Golden Venture
On June 6, 1993, at around 2 a.m., the Golden Venture — a ship bearing 286 illegal immigrants from China along with 13 crew members — ran aground on Rockaway Beach in Queens, New York after a mutiny by the smugglers. The ship had set sail from Thailand, stopped in Kenya and circled the...
- Mandatory sentencing
A mandatory sentence is a court decision setting where judicial discretion is limited by law. Typically, people convicted of certain crimes must be punished with at least a minimum number of years in prison...
- Mariel boatlift
The Mariel boatlift was a mass emigration of Cubans who departed from Cuba's Mariel Harbor for the United States between April 15 and October 31, 1980....
- Pacific Solution
The Pacific Solution was the name given to the Australian government policy of transporting asylum seekers to detention camps on small island nations in the Pacific Ocean, rather than allowing them to land on the Australian mainland...
General
- Dow, Mark, American Gulag. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.
- Kalhan, Anil, Rethinking Immigration Detention, 110 Columbia L. Rev. Sidebar 42, 2010
- From Nothing to Zero: Letters from Refugees in Australia's Detention Centres. Melbourne: Lonely Planet, 2003.
- Mares, Peter, Borderline. Sydney, University of New South Wales Press, 2001.
Further reading
- Dow, Mark. American Gulag: Inside U.S. Immigration Prisons. University of California Press
University of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish books and papers for the faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868...
, 2005. ISBN 0520246691, 9780520246690.