I rarely post anything other than book reviews here, and I tend to avoid political discussions online. However, the current situation seems to call for action, and writing comes most readily to me.
As a resident of a non-border state, I may not fully appreciate the complexities of the immigration issue. But the present path pursued by ICE cannot be the answer.
The letter below to Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, references specific recent incidents and contains links to articles from major news outlets. Feel free to borrow from these if you wish to compose your own letters to leaders and representatives. Links to contact information appear at the bottom.
Dear Mr. Lyons,
I am writing because my family and I are deeply concerned about the current activities of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Reports proliferate of masked agents using deception to entrap and detain individuals who have been law-abiding residents and contributing members of their communities for decades. On July 23 the arrest of a long-time restaurant owner in Moscow, Pennsylvania, unsettled and galvanized the small town. The administration claims to be rooting out violent criminals; instead they are deporting vital community members and providers of valuable services.
Separation of parents and children—sometimes infants—are traumatic for all parties. A July 11 Oregon Public Broadcasting article reported the arrest of a mother at the U.S.-Canada border accused of “attempting to smuggle illegal aliens into the U.S.” Her four children, all legal U.S. citizens, were removed from her custody and housed with family friends. The father was subsequently arrested; both parents are being held in a Tacoma detention facility. The mother has been denied access to her attorney.
This incident illustrates other abuses, such as arbitrary arrests and lack of due process. Proper investigation would have shown the children to have been legitimate citizens, not illegal aliens. In another Oregon incident, reported by CBS News, an Iranian man awaiting a green card was arrested outside his child’s preschool. ICE officials initially tried to arrest him at a traffic stop.
The above incident is also representative of the frequent denial of access to legal counsel. Countless conscientious individuals reporting for required routine check-ins at ICE offices have been denied access to their lawyers and taken away by ICE agents, at times in the absence of any official reporting as to their detention or destination.
A June 13 USA Today article is just one of many that reports deplorable conditions at detention centers: severe overcrowding, lack of sanitation, inadequate food and drinking water, and lack of access to medical care. Representative are disturbing reports from detention centers in Texas housing a young boy with cancer, a nine-year-old with a blood condition, and a nine-month-old who lost eight pounds while in detention for more than a month.
According to a July 16 Newsweek report, more individuals are being deported to places other than their countries of origin than are being repatriated. The claim is made that these are dangerous criminals rejected by their own countries. However, numerous cases contradict this supposed fact. Absence of due process means innocent victims are being accused and extradited without a hearing. Many of the countries to which they are being transported are notorious for human rights violations.
A number of those being detained are asylum seekers. A Feb. 20 USA Today article describes a group of Christians who left Iran under threat of persecution. They were arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border and delivered to Panama, where they had no connections or means of support. One may question whether the asylum seekers’ religious belief was genuine, but they were never interviewed or given the opportunity to establish credible fear of persecution or torture.
The basic right to “liberty and justice for all” is encoded in our country’s creed and constitution. The current treatment of immigrants and asylum seekers invites comparison to some of the most lamentable chapters in our country’s history.
Having spent more than four years living in Central and South Asia, I have enjoyed the hospitality of individuals who could barely provide for their own families, let alone share with guests. A country whose citizens enjoy relative prosperity surely has the resources to at least entertain the appeals of those fleeing desperate situations.
A Gallup poll released on July 11 shows that a majority of Americans are proponents of immigration and support a path to citizenship for undocumented residents. Current procedures not only violate basic principles of compassion, integrity, and respect for human dignity, they ignore the wishes of the citizens whom our administration claims to represent.
According to the ICE website, the agency’s mandate is protecting Americans from crime. Its “Worst of the Worst” page identifies foreign criminals arrested in the U.S.—certainly critical to protecting our communities. Nevertheless, this represents the minority of detentions. According to a June 24 CBS News article, “ICE internal data reveals that nearly half of those currently detained lack any criminal record, while fewer than 30 percent have been convicted of crimes.”
The ICE website states that its Office of the Principal Legal Advisor is responsible for “litigating all removal cases.” However, as demonstrated above, this litigation is not taking place. The website also states that its Office of Professional Responsibility is responsible for “upholding the agency’s professional standards.” The activities described above surely constitute a lapse in professional standards. At a minimum, ICE agents should be required to visibly display their ID numbers in order to facilitate accountability, as proposed by recently introduced legislation.
As acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, I urge you to take seriously the abuses enumerated here and restrict the agency’s activities to detention of individuals who demonstrate reasonable suspicion of being involved in violent crime.
Sincerely,
Amanda Bird
ICE Office of Professional Responsibility
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