Detention Policy Changes Welcomed

December 17, 2009

Washington, DC – Yesterday, ICE announced a revised policy regarding the detention of asylum seekers who are apprehended coming to the U.S.  The administration indicated that immigrants who are identified as asylum seekers at a port of entry and are found to have a credible fear of persecution should they be returned to their country of origin will soon automatically be considered for release into the U.S. while their immigration case is pending.

The following is a statement by Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, a non-partisan, non-profit pro-immigrant advocacy organization in Washington.

We are pleased with the long-awaited change in policy and welcome the Department of Homeland Security’s commitment to reforming our broken detention system.  This change in policy only begins to acknowledge what we have been saying for years: too many asylum seekers are unnecessarily detained.  Moreover, the fact that victims of persecution seeking asylum in America are greeted here with shackles is symptomatic of ICE’s diseased immigration detention management.  There are far more immigrants of all categories held in immigration detention than is necessary or appropriate.  Nonetheless, we believe this announcement is a step in the right direction, bringing us closer to honoring our nation’s moral obligations and treaty commitments, and continuing movement towards a fair and humane immigration system.

This week, Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) introduced comprehensive immigration reform legislation, incorporating permanent statutory reforms to immigration detention and release. Current changes in policy are subject to the whim of administrations, as we saw with the dramatic reduction in release of arriving asylum seekers under the Bush administration. Representative Gutierrez’s bill would institutionalize the policy changes this administration is moving toward, and we believe these long term changes should be implemented into law.  Unfortunately, our dysfunctional detention system is but a fraction of our broken immigration system. While we welcome this long overdue policy change that treats asylum seekers more humanely, it is clear that what America really needs is comprehensive immigration reform.