Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
America’s internal “gulag”-the imprisonment of immigrants in the US
A network of prison facilities in which detainees are held indefinitely without charges, denied access to attorneys and family, terrorized by dogs, and subjected to abuse tantamount to torture, as well as sexual humiliation. This description applies not just to Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib and Bagram Air Base, but also to another “gulag” of jails and detention facilities strung across the United States in which tens of thousands of immigrant workers are being held by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
While the “global war on terrorism” is used to justify unlawful detention and torture abroad, it has likewise served to sanction the brutal treatment of immigrants at home.
ICE, a branch of the Homeland Security Department, deported a record 198,000 detainees in 2004. On any given day last year, an average of 22,814 immigrants languished in jails across the country, nearly four times the number held in 1994. The ICE contracts out the detentions to county jails. Often housed alongside violent criminals, these detainees face verbal abuse, overcrowding, and denial of medical attention, as well as physical beatings, solitary confinement and the psychological torture of not knowing if they will ever be released.
Some of these immigrants have been in jail for years without any ruling on when they might be either freed or deported.
A June 4 article in the New York Times highlighted the case of Keyse G. Jama, a Somali refugee arrested in 1999 on a minor assault charge. He was sentenced to a year in jail, but almost six years later, he is still imprisoned. After his sentence was completed, he was ordered deported to war-torn Somalia, but was turned away by local officials there.
According to the Times, data from the Department of Homeland Security shows “1,225 immigrants from more than 100 countries in long-term detention, like Mr. Jama, as of March.”
Many of the immigrants facing long-term detention have committed no crime at all. Madani Ba, a Mali immigrant denied political asylum, was recently released from Passaic County jail in Paterson, New Jersey, after having been detained for more than a year.
He left Mali in 1990 after a military coup installed a new regime. He was harassed and prevented from finding employment since he was former member of the military prior to the coup. He arrived in the US legally with a three-month visa and applied for political asylum. The hearing did not come until 1998, when he was denied asylum and ordered deported. He appealed this ruling, but failed again. According to the New Jersey Herald News, “When a final ruling on his case resulted in a deportation order, immigration authorities came to his Manhattan apartment at 6 a.m., roused him from sleep, handcuffed him, and took him to Passaic County Jail.”
Read More
http://wsws.org/articles/2005/jun2005/immi-j09.shtml
ICE, a branch of the Homeland Security Department, deported a record 198,000 detainees in 2004. On any given day last year, an average of 22,814 immigrants languished in jails across the country, nearly four times the number held in 1994. The ICE contracts out the detentions to county jails. Often housed alongside violent criminals, these detainees face verbal abuse, overcrowding, and denial of medical attention, as well as physical beatings, solitary confinement and the psychological torture of not knowing if they will ever be released.
Some of these immigrants have been in jail for years without any ruling on when they might be either freed or deported.
A June 4 article in the New York Times highlighted the case of Keyse G. Jama, a Somali refugee arrested in 1999 on a minor assault charge. He was sentenced to a year in jail, but almost six years later, he is still imprisoned. After his sentence was completed, he was ordered deported to war-torn Somalia, but was turned away by local officials there.
According to the Times, data from the Department of Homeland Security shows “1,225 immigrants from more than 100 countries in long-term detention, like Mr. Jama, as of March.”
Many of the immigrants facing long-term detention have committed no crime at all. Madani Ba, a Mali immigrant denied political asylum, was recently released from Passaic County jail in Paterson, New Jersey, after having been detained for more than a year.
He left Mali in 1990 after a military coup installed a new regime. He was harassed and prevented from finding employment since he was former member of the military prior to the coup. He arrived in the US legally with a three-month visa and applied for political asylum. The hearing did not come until 1998, when he was denied asylum and ordered deported. He appealed this ruling, but failed again. According to the New Jersey Herald News, “When a final ruling on his case resulted in a deportation order, immigration authorities came to his Manhattan apartment at 6 a.m., roused him from sleep, handcuffed him, and took him to Passaic County Jail.”
Read More
http://wsws.org/articles/2005/jun2005/immi-j09.shtml
Add Your Comments
Latest Comments
Listed below are the latest comments about this post.
These comments are submitted anonymously by website visitors.
TITLE
AUTHOR
DATE
Uncle Satan (Bush) Wags the Dirty Muslim in Lodi
Sat, Jun 11, 2005 3:09PM
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$330.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network