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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 3:13 am
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Results for immigrants (u.s.)
19 results foundAuthor: National Commission on ICE Misconduct and Violations of 4th Amendment Rights Title: Raids on Workers: Destroying Our Rights. A Comprehensive Analysis and Investigation of ICE Raids and Their Ramifications Summary: This Commission report documents the devastation and destruction that immigration raids had on families, workplaces and communities across the country. It offers a critical analysis of one of the central components of the Bush Administration's immigration strategy and provides a detailed account of how heavy handed enforcement tactics led to systemic abuse of workers' rights and a willful disregard for the rule of law. Details: Washington, DC: National Commission on ICE Misconduct and Violations of 4th Amendment Rights, 2009. 80p. Source: Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 115524 Keywords: Immigrants (U.S.)Raids (U.S.) |
Author: Vaughan, Jessica M. Title: Taking Back the Streets: ICE and Local Law Enforcement Target Immigrant Gangs Summary: Immigration law enforcement has been a key ingredient contributing to the success of criminal gang suppression efforts in many jurisdictions across the United States. This report describes the public safety problems posed by immigrant gangs and looks at how one jurisdiction, Virginia, has used immigration law enforcement tools successfully to check their further proliferation. Details: Washington, DC: Center for Immigration Studies, 2008. 31p. Source: Backgrounder Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 115523 Keywords: Immigrant GangsImmigrant Law Enforcement (U.S.)Immigrants (U.S.) |
Author: Appleseed Title: Assembly Line Injustice: Blueprint to Reform America's Immigration Courts Summary: This report presents an evaluation of the Immigration Court system across the U.S. by gathering the opinions of those who face the challenges of the system on a daily basis. Interviews were conducted among a broad sample of experts, including practitioners, officials of nonprofit associations, leaders of professional organizations, academics and governmental players. This report presents the findings of these interviews, as well as a series of recommendations to bring the reality of fair play and equal justice to the Immigration Court system. Details: Washington, DC: Appleseed, 2009. 39p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 118771 Keywords: Illegal AliensImmigrants (U.S.)Immigration Court |
Author: Silverman, Stephanie J. Title: Immigration Detention in America: A History of its Expansion and a Study of its Significance Summary: This working paper investigates the legislative origins of the US immigration detention system. This critical history is an attempt to broaden the discussion of the place and propriety of immigration detention in the American political landscape. The paper explains who has historically been subject to immigration detention, where and for how long the practice takes place, and what has lead to its rapid enlargement in recent decades. Using historical frames, this paper identifies and traces three key characteristics in the legislative development of the US immigration detention system: firstly, the increasingly restrictive nature of the system; secondly, the fact that the system it is more similar to an ad hoc bricolage of policies and contradictory justifications than a coherent assemblage of policies; and, finally, the criminalization of immigrants and resident non-citizens. What emerges from this narrative is a history of the expansion of the immigration detention system by the executive branch in response to periods of increasing politicization of immigration, particularly concerning the category of resident non-citizens. The paper argues that, in the absence of clear policy objectives, public oversight, and public accountability, government has developed the US immigration detention system without coherence and often hastily in reaction to events in the political sphere. Details: Oxford, UK: University of Oxford, Centre on Migration, Policy and Society, 2010. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper No. 80: Accessed December 15, 2010 at: http://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/publications/working-papers/wp-10-80/ Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/publications/working-papers/wp-10-80/ Shelf Number: 120514 Keywords: Illegal AliensImmigrant DetentionImmigrants (U.S.)Immigration |
Author: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Title: Report on Immigration in the United States: Detention and Due Process Summary: The United States hosts the largest number of international immigrants in the world. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in 2005 the United States had a total of 38.4 million international migrants. Many of those migrants came to the United States through formal and legal channels. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates that as of January 2008 there were 12.6 million legal permanent residents (LPRs) in the United States; another 1,107,126 were added in 2008. Every year, many legal permanent residents are granted U.S. citizenship. In 2008, 1,046,539 persons became naturalized citizens. The United States is also one of the leading countries for granting asylum and resettling refugees. In 2008, the United States granted asylum to 22,930 persons and resettled 60,108 refugees. In keeping with Article 58 of its Rules of Procedure, the Inter‐American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Inter‐American Commission,” “the Commission,” or “the IACHR”) is presenting this report as a diagnostic analysis of the human rights situation with respect to immigrant detention and due process in the United States and to make recommendations so that immigration practices in that country conform to international human rights standards. Details: Washington, DC: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 2010. 162p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 21, 2011 at: http://cidh.org/pdf%20files/ReportOnImmigrationInTheUnited%20States-DetentionAndDueProcess.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://cidh.org/pdf%20files/ReportOnImmigrationInTheUnited%20States-DetentionAndDueProcess.pdf Shelf Number: 121092 Keywords: Human RightsIllegal ImmigrationImmigrant DetentionImmigrants (U.S.) |
Author: Parker, Alison Title: A Costly Move: Far and Frequent Transfers Impede Hearings for Immigrant Detainees in the United States Summary: Detained immigrants facing deportation in the United States, including legal permanent residents, refugees, and undocumented persons, are being transferred, often repeatedly, to remote detention centers by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Transfers separate detained immigrants from the attorneys and evidence they need to defend against deportation, which can violate their right to fair treatment in court, slow asylum or deportation proceedings, and prolong the time immigrants spend in detention. With close to 400,000 immigrants in detention each year, space in US detention centers, especially near cities where immigrants, their families, and attorneys live, has not kept pace. As a result, ICE has built a system of detention—relying on subcontracts with state jails and prisons—that cannot operate without transfers. A Costly Move shows that between 1998 and 2010, 1 million immigrants were transferred 2 million times. Forty-six percent of transferred detainees were moved two or more times: in one egregious case, a detainee was transferred 66 times. On average, each transferred detainee traveled 370 miles, with one frequent transfer pattern (from Pennsylvania to Texas) covering 1,642 miles. Such long-distance and repetitive transfers can render attorney-client relationships unworkable, separate immigrants from evidence they need in court, and make family visits so costly they rarely, if ever, occur. An agency charged with enforcing US laws should not establish a system of detention that is literally inoperable without widespread, multiple, and long-distance transfers. ICE would reduce the chaos and limit harmful human rights abuses if it worked to emulate best practices on inmate transfers set by state and federal prison systems. Transfers do not need to stop entirely in order for ICE to respect detainees’ rights; they merely need to be curtailed through the establishment of enforceable guidelines, regulations, and reasonable legislative restraints. Details: New York: Human Rights Watch, 2011. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 27, 2011 at: http://www.hrw.org/node/99660 Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.hrw.org/node/99660 Shelf Number: 121830 Keywords: Human RightsIllegal AliensIllegal ImmmigrantsImmigrant DetentionImmigrants (U.S.) |
Author: Gambetta, Ricardo Title: Public Safety Programs in the Immigrant Community Summary: Police departments across the U.S. function using a framework of community policing and rely on trust and partnership between police and local residents, including those from the immigrant communities. Police need to remain aware of problems within the community, knowledge dependent on resident crime reporting and witness testifying. All residents, including immigrant populations, who are often more vulnerable to crime, need to feel secure in interacting with the police and coming to the department for help. Unfortunately, several barriers separate immigrant communities from local police departments, hindering relationship building and effective community policing. Miscommunication occurs due to language barriers and cultural differences over police customs, cultural norms or gender roles. Many immigrants also fear the police, either due to imported expectations from their home country or from deportation concerns and the confusion surrounding local law enforcements’ role in federal immigration enforcement. To overcome these barriers, several police departments across the country are implementing innovative programs to reach out and expand public safety to their local immigrant populations. Increased communication between police and immigrant communities improves policing and public safety for the entire community. To highlight these programs, NLC’s Municipal Action for Immigrant Integration program released its third report in the Municipal Innovations in Immigrant Integration Series: Public Safety Programs for the Immigrant Community. This new publication addresses cities’ role in immigrant public safety and is designed to give cities and towns a starting place to plan and improve their public safety outreach programs toward their local immigrant population. The report highlights good practices from 17 U.S police departments and includes recommendations for developing immigrant public safety programs in other communities. The 17 cities profiled in the report are: Brooklyn Center, Minn; Chelsea, Mass.; Dallas; Des Moines, Iowa; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Garden Grove, Calif.; New York; Norfolk, Va.; Portland, Ore.; Storm Lake, Iowa; Las Vegas; Lowell, Mass.; New Haven, Conn.; Newport News, Va.; St. Paul, Minn.; Washington, D.C.;. and Winston Salem, N.C. The report also features a more comprehensive case study of public safety activities in Indianapolis. Details: Washington, DC: National League of Cities, 2011. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 23, 2011 at: www.nlc.org Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 122887 Keywords: Community PolicingImmigrant CommunitiesImmigrants (U.S.) |
Author: Gardner, Trevor, II Title: The C.A.P. Effect: Racial Profiling in the ICE Criminal Alien Program Summary: The goal of the Criminal Alien Program (CAP) is to improve safety by promoting federal-local partnerships to target serious criminal offenders for deportation. Indeed, the U.S. Congress has made clear that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “should have no greater immigration enforcement priority than to remove deportable aliens with serious criminal histories from the United States, …” The Warren Institute’s analysis of arrest data pursuant to an ICE-local partnership in Irving, Texas demonstrates that ICE is not following Congress’ mandate to focus resources on the deportation of immigrants with serious criminal histories. This study also shows that immediately after Irving, Texas law enforcement had 24-hour access (via telephone and video teleconference) to ICE in the local jail, discretionary arrests of Hispanics for petty offenses — particularly minor traffic offenses — rose dramatically. This report probes the marked rise in low-level arrests of Hispanics. Specifically, the report examines whether there was an increase in lawless behavior in the Hispanic community in Irving or whether there was a change in local policing priorities. The Warren Institute’s study of arrest data finds strong evidence to support claims that Irving police engaged in racial profiling of Hispanics in order to filter them through the CAP screening system. Details: Berkeley, CA: Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity & Diversity, University of California, Berkeley Law School, 2009. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Brief: Accessed October 22, 2011 at: http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/policybrief_irving_FINAL.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/policybrief_irving_FINAL.pdf Shelf Number: 123082 Keywords: Criminal AliensDeportationHispanicsIllegal AliensImmigrants (U.S.)Racial Profiling |
Author: King, Martha, ed. Title: Justice and Safety in America's Immigrant Communities: Conference Series Report Summary: This volume summarizes the research and discussions that took place during the Justice and Safety in America’s Immigrant Communities conference series. The series examined the special issues involved in the relationship between newly arrived Americans and the police. This volume also tells the story of the conference series’ process, which involved crossing the boundaries of academic disciplines, professional worlds and political outlooks. The series was designed around three daylong sessions. The first session, in November 2004, convened law enforcement leadership from New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia. The second session in March 2005 convened a group of advocates, elected officials, and community-based organizations representing jurisdictions with large immigrant populations in the same region. The culminating session occurred in May 2005. This final session brought together police and immigrant community leadership in order to generate promising strategies for improving safety and administration of justice in America’s immigrant communities. At each session, leading researchers presented their original work on: the perspectives of immigrant communities on policing strategies; the patterns of victimization and offending among immigrants; and, how September 11th affected communities with significant immigrant populations, including the role of local law enforcement in immigration control. The three conferences were structured to generate plans and ideas that law enforcement officials and immigrant community advocates could implement in their communities. Sessions one and two (see conference agendas in the appendix) were designed around a keynote address followed by presentations by three researchers. After each researcher presented his work, two to three responders, who were either immigrant community advocates or law enforcement leaders themselves, shared their reactions publicly and related the research to their own local experience. Each of these sessions incorporated audience questions and discussion. However, the last conference, which brought together advocates and law enforcement officials, was designed differently for two reasons. First, the final session was designed to bring advocates and law enforcement in dialogue based on their local experiences and their experiences from the first two sessions. The first two sessions, therefore, provided a common framework and base of knowledge for all participants. Second, the last conference was designed to generate specific strategies for improving police-community trust and cooperation that attendees could take back to their towns and neighborhoods. The last conference began with the three researchers reflecting on the reactions of conference participants to their research. The rest of the day was organized around smaller, moderated discussions of the issues at the core of the conference series: definitions of safety; barriers to safety and accessing justice; and strategies for improved safety and justice in immigrant communities. The three conferences addressed these topics from a regional perspective, incorporating promising practices, lessons and challenges from Philadelphia, New York and New Jersey. What emerged was that much work remains to be done and that many advocates and law enforcement leaders are ready to continue this work at both the local and federal levels. This volume serves as a template for participants and others interested in beginning this dialogue locally. What follows is an attempt to share the conference’s discussions and findings with a larger audience. The volume begins with the background paper that was sent to conference participants. A summary of the last session follows to highlight the participants’ recommendations. This is then followed by a summary of sessions one and two. The volume concludes with the three academic papers that formed the core of the conference discussions and presentations. Details: Princeton, NJ: Policy Research Institute for the Region, Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs, Princeton University, 2006. 110p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 14, 2012 at http://wws.princeton.edu/research/prior-publications/conference-books/justice.pdf Year: 2006 Country: United States URL: http://wws.princeton.edu/research/prior-publications/conference-books/justice.pdf Shelf Number: 105029 Keywords: Administration of JusticeImmigrants (U.S.)Police-Community Relations |
Author: Meng, Grace Title: Cultivating Fear: The Vulnerability of Immigrant Farmworkers in the US to Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Summary: Producing food consumed throughout the country, hundreds of thousands of immigrant women and girls in the United States today work in fields, packing houses, and other agricultural workplaces where they face a real and significant risk of sexual violence and sexual harassment. Cultivating Fear, based on interviews with over 50 farmworkers and 110 advocates, agricultural industry representatives, and government officials, documents cases of rape, stalking, unwanted touching, exhibitionism, and verbal harassment, perpetrated by supervisors, co-workers, employers, and others in positions of power. Although farmworkers are protected in theory from workplace sexual violence and harassment under US civil and criminal law, farmworker women and girls face systemic barriers—as farmworkers and often as unauthorized immigrants—to reporting abuses and helping bring perpetrators to justice. Human Rights Watch calls on employers to take responsibility for the safety of their workers and on local police to ensure unauthorized immigrant victims are able to report crimes without fear of deportation. Most critically, Human Rights Watch calls on the US government to reform immigration and labor law and policy, at the federal and state levels, to ensure that the workers whose labor sustains US agriculture are able to fully assert their rights to protection from workplace sexual violence and harassment. Details: New York: Human Rights Watch, 2012. 101p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 18, 2012 at: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/us0512ForUpload_1.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/us0512ForUpload_1.pdf Shelf Number: 125258 Keywords: Immigrants (U.S.)RapeSex OffensesSexual HarassmentSexual Violence |
Author: Lynch, Jennifer Title: From Fingerprints to DNA: Biometric Data Collection in U.S. Immigrant Communities and Beyond Summary: The collection of biometrics—including fingerprints, DNA, and face-recognition ready photographs—is becoming more and more a part of society. Both the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are in the process of expanding their biometrics databases to collect even more information, like face prints and iris scans. The expansion of biometric data collection, however, is uniquely affecting undocumented immigrants and immigrant communities. Under DHS’s Secure Communities program, for example, states are required to share their fingerprint data with DHS, thus subjecting undocumented and even documented immigrants in the United States to heightened fears of deportation should they have any interaction with law enforcement. In this report, co-sponsored by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), author Jennifer Lynch explains the different technologies for collecting biometrics, as well as how that data is collected, stored and used. She raises concerns about data-sharing, legal protection, technological problems, then proposes changes to control and limit the storage of biometrics to benefit not only immigrants, but all people in the U.S. Details: Washington, DC: Immigration Policy Center, 2012. 23p. Source: Special Report: Internet Resource: Accessed June 7, 2012 at https://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/filenode/BiometricsImmigration052112.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: https://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/filenode/BiometricsImmigration052112.pdf Shelf Number: 125330 Keywords: DNA FingerprintingEvidence RetentionForensicsImmigrants (U.S.) |
Author: Saint-Fort, Pradine Title: Engaging Police in Immigrant Communities: Promising Practices from the Field Summary: Law enforcement faces many barriers to policing new immigrant communities and cultivating partnerships with these groups. Language barriers, immigrants’ reluctance to report crime for fear of deportation, fear of police, federal immigration enforcement, and cultural differences, can lead to misunderstandings between law enforcement and community members. The Engaging Police in Immigrant Communities (EPIC) project highlights promising practices that law enforcement agencies nationwide are using to build effective police-immigrant relations. This guidebook is accompanied by podcasts on the same topic, as well as a website with additional materials and resources available through www.vera.org/epic. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services; New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2012. 39p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 9, 2012 at: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/Publications/e071218496_Engaging-Police-in-Immigrant-Comm_v5_19OCT12.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/Publications/e071218496_Engaging-Police-in-Immigrant-Comm_v5_19OCT12.pdf Shelf Number: 126910 Keywords: Community PolicingImmigrant CommunitiesImmigrants (U.S.)Minority Groups |
Author: Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Title: Unlocking Liberty: A Way Forward for U.S. Immigration Detention Policy Summary: In a country that honors due process, and during a time when most are calling for reduced federal spending, locking people up should be the exception to the rule. Yet immigrant detention is the fastest growing, least scrutinized form of incarceration in the United States. On any given day, the U.S. government imprisons more than 33,000 immigrants—many of whom are refugees or survivors of torture or human trafficking—in a vast national network of about 250 federal, private, state, and local jails. The cost to U.S. taxpayers is $122 per detainee per day. These figures, however, fail to account for the human costs. It is well documented that detention has negative long-term consequences for immigrants’ mental and physical health and negatively impacts their ability to integrate into society upon release. All of these costs must necessarily be borne by the public for those granted relief in their removal cases and permitted to stay in the United States. In contrast, alternatives to detention (ATDs) are cheaper—they cost only $22 or less per person per day—and are more humane. An effective use of a broad continuum of alternatives to detention would allow the federal government to meet its responsibility to enforce compliance with U.S. immigration laws, meet its humanitarian obligations, and significantly reduce the financial burden to U.S. taxpayers. Alternatives that utilize case management for those released from custody have a number of benefits: • respect for and fulfillment of human rights, • higher rates of compliance and appearance, • reduced costs, • improved integration outcomes for individuals granted relief from removal, and • improved client health and welfare. The record is clear. Since the 1980s, projects operated by nonprofit organizations in the United States and abroad that have provided tailored supervision, case management, and social services have consistently produced high appearance rates for much less money than detention. Recognizing the successes of these models, Congress provided U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an arm of the Department of Homeland Security, with funding to initiate a holistic alternative for noncitizens who did not need to be detained. Unfortunately, the U.S. government’s approach has focused on security at the expense of other goals, casting shadows on the program’s operations. Unlocking Liberty: A Way Forward for U.S. Immigration Detention Policy, reviews the U.S. government’s attempts to implement ATD programs and reveals five overarching structural challenges that must be overcome: • an overreliance on detention as an approach to immigration enforcement, • the lack of individualized risk assessments to determine who needs to be detained or otherwise supervised to ensure appearance and removal, • absence of necessary data indicators and the mechanisms to collect and report those indicators to evaluate the use of detention and alternatives, • absence of a robust case management system with referrals to appropriate social services, and • insufficient access to legal and social services. To better control the immigrant removal process, reduce costs, and meet human rights obligations under domestic and international law, three critical reforms are needed to U.S. immigration enforcement policies: an individualized assessment and process to challenge all custody decisions, robust case management tailored to individual needs, and access to legal and support services. Details: Baltimore, MD: Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, 2012. 72p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 26, 2012 at: http://www.lirs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/RPTUNLOCKINGLIBERTY.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.lirs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/RPTUNLOCKINGLIBERTY.pdf Shelf Number: 127006 Keywords: Illegal AliensIllegal ImmigrantsImmigrant DetentionImmigrants (U.S.) |
Author: Smith, Rebecca Title: Workers’ Rights on ICE: How Immigration Reform Can Stop Retaliation and Advance Labor Rights Workers’ Rights on ICE Summary: This report outlines how employers across the country are gaming today’s broken immigration system to exploit immigrant workers and evade both labor and immigration laws. The report by the National Employment Law Project (NELP) uses two dozen case studies—including the recent action at Palermo’s Pizza—as examples of employers’ use of immigration enforcement or the threat of it to retaliate against workers who seek their basic workplace rights. One of the key principles of the AFL-CIO’s comprehensive immigration reform’s blueprint is the coverage and enforcement of workplace rights for undocumented workers. At Palermo's Pizza, Workers’ Rights on ICE: How Immigration Reform Can Stop Retaliation and Advance Labor Rights report relates that when workers there began to form a union, management used the threat of a reverification of their immigration status by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to intimidate the workers. Even though ICE told Palermo's it was not conducting an investigation. One day after receiving notice that ICE was not pursuing enforcement action against it, Palermo's fired some 75 striking workers. Palermo's claimed that the firings were not motivated by anti-union animus but to comply with immigration law, a dubious claim in light of ICE’s retraction. Palermo's Pizza workers, who have been on strike since June 1, are protesting unfair labor practices and demanding safe working conditions, recognition for their union and the reinstatement of 90 workers who were, according to a recent Worker Rights Consortium report, illegally fired for trying to organize a union. Other examples of employer abuse in the report include: •A California employer falsely accuses a day laborer of robbery to avoid paying him wages owed. Police turn him over to immigration enforcement agents anyway. •An Ohio company, on the eve of an National Labor Relations Board decision finding it guilty of unfair labor practices, carries out its threat to “take out” union leadership by reverifying union leaders’ immigration status and work eligibility. •A Seattle employer threatens workers seeking to recover unpaid wages with deportation, and an immigration arrest follows. Details: New York: National Employment Law Project, 2013. 38p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 18, 2013 at: http://www.nelp.org/page/-/Justice/2013/Workers-Rights-on-ICE-Retaliation-Report.pdf?nocdn=1 Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.nelp.org/page/-/Justice/2013/Workers-Rights-on-ICE-Retaliation-Report.pdf?nocdn=1 Shelf Number: 127967 Keywords: Illegal ImmigrantsImmigrant LaborImmigrants (U.S.)Immigration ReformUndocumented Workers |
Author: Miles, Thomas J. Title: Does Immigration Enforcement Reduce Crime? Evidence from "Secure Communities" Summary: Does immigration enforcement actually reduce crime? Surprisingly, little evidence exists either way-despite the fact that deporting noncitizens who commit crimes has been a central feature of American immigration law since the early twentieth century. We capitalize on a natural policy experiment to address the question and, in the process, provide the first empirical analysis of the most important deportation initiative to be rolled out in decades. The policy initiative we study is "Secure Communities," a program designed to enable the federal government to check the immigration status of every person arrested for a crime by local police. Before this program, the government checked the immigration status of only a small fraction of arrestees. Since its launch, the program has led to over a quarter of a million detentions. We exploit the slow rollout of the program across more than 3,000 U.S. counties to obtain differences-in-differences estimates of the impact of Secure Communities on local crime rates. We also use rich data on the number of immigrants detained under the program in each county and month-data obtained from the federal government through extensive FOIA requests-to estimate the elasticity of crime with respect to incapacitated immigrants. Our results show that Secure Communities led to no meaningful reductions in the FBI index crime rate. Nor has it reduced rates of violent crime-homicide, rape, robbery, or aggravated assault. This evidence shows that the program has not served its central objective of making communities safer. Details: Chicago: University of Chicago School of Law; New York: New York University Law School, 2014. 61p. Source: Internet Resource: Draft, August 21, 2014: Accessed September 15, 2014 at: http://www.law.uchicago.edu/files/file/does_immigration_enforcement_reduce_crime_082514.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.law.uchicago.edu/files/file/does_immigration_enforcement_reduce_crime_082514.pdf Shelf Number: 133328 Keywords: Crime PreventionImmigrants (U.S.)Immigrants and CrimeImmigrationImmigration EnforcementSecure CommunitiesUndocumented Citizens |
Author: Passel, Jeffrey S. Title: As Growth Stalls, Unauthorized Immigrant Population Becomes More Settled Summary: The number of unauthorized immigrants living in the United States has stabilized since the end of the Great Recession and shows no sign of rising, according to new Pew Research Center estimates. The marked slowdown in new arrivals means that those who remain are more likely to be long-term residents, and to live with their U.S.-born children. There were 11.3 million unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. in March 2013, according to a preliminary Pew Research Center estimate, about the same as the 11.2 million in 2012 and unchanged since 2009. The population had risen briskly for decades before plunging during the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009. As growth of this group has stalled, there has been a recent sharp rise in the median length of time that unauthorized immigrants have lived in the U.S. In 2013, according to a preliminary estimate, unauthorized immigrant adults had been in the U.S. for a median time of nearly 13 years - meaning that half had been in the country at least that long. A decade earlier, in 2003, the median for adults was less than eight years. Details: Washington, DC: Pew Research Center's Hispanic Trends Project, 2014. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 2, 2014 at: http://www.pewhispanic.org/files/2014/09/2014-09-03_Unauthorized-Final.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.pewhispanic.org/files/2014/09/2014-09-03_Unauthorized-Final.pdf Shelf Number: 133535 Keywords: Illegal ImmigrantsImmigrants (U.S.)ImmigrationUndocumented Immigrants |
Author: American Immigration Council Title: Misplaced Priorities: Most Immigrants Deported by ICE in 2013 Were a Threat to No One Summary: No one can say with certainty when the Obama administration will reach the grim milestone of having deported two million people since the President took office in 2008. Regardless of the exact date this symbolic threshold is reached, however, it is important to keep in mind a much more important fact: most of the people being deported are not dangerous criminals. Despite claims by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that it prioritizes the apprehension of terrorists, violent criminals, and gang members, the agency's own deportation statistics do not bear this out. Rather, most of the individuals being swept up by ICE and dropped into the U.S. deportation machine committed relatively minor, non-violent crimes or have no criminal histories at all. Ironically, many of the immigrants being deported would likely have been able to remain in the country had the immigration reform legislation favored by the administration become law. ICE's skewed priorities are apparent from the agency's most recent deportation statistics, which cover Fiscal Year (FY) 2013. However, it takes a little digging to discern exactly what those statistics mean. The ICE report containing these numbers is filled with ominous yet cryptic references to "convicted criminals" who are "Level 1," "Level 2," or "Level 3" in terms of their priority. But when those terms are dissected and analyzed, it quickly becomes apparent that most of these "criminal aliens" are not exactly the "worst of the worst." Details: Washington, DC: American Immigration Council, Immigration Policy Center, 2014. 6p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 2, 2014 at: http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/docs/misplaced_priorities_march_2014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/docs/misplaced_priorities_march_2014.pdf Shelf Number: 133553 Keywords: Illegal ImmigrantsImmigrants (U.S.)Immigrants and CrimeImmigration PolicyUndocumented Immigrants |
Author: Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Title: Locking Up Family Values, Again Summary: 2009, the Obama Administration closed what then was the United States largest family immigration detention facility after years of controversy, media exposure, and a lawsuit. Conditions at T. Don Hutto Family Detention Facility, and the impact of detention on families and children, proved that family detention could not be carried out humanely. In the summer of 2014, with an increase in the number of mothers and children fleeing violence and persecution in Central America, the Administration has returned to this widely discredited and costly practice. Part of a strategy to stem the flow through detention and expedited removal, the expansion of family detention continues even with a high percentage of families seeking protection and posing no flight or security risks. With the conversion of existing detention facilities and plans for an additional facility, the United States will soon have roughly 40 times as many family detention beds as there were in spring 2014. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) and the Womens Refugee Commission (WRC), leading experts on the intersection of families and immigration, have collaborated to show the harm family detention causes and outline sensible alternatives. The findings in Locking Up Family Values, Again are informed by our tours of the Artesia and Karnes facilities as well as interviews with facility and government officials, detained families, and legal and social service providers. Much like in our 2007 report, Locking Up Family Values, our findings again illustrate that large-scale family detention results in egregious violations of our countrys obligations under international law, undercuts individual due process rights, and sets a poor example for the rest of the world. Locking Up Family Values, Again documents that most of the families detained such as 98% at the Karnes facility based on September 2014 statistics are seeking protection in the United States. The average age of children in the governments Artesia facility as of October 2014 was six years old, and more than half of all children who entered family detention in Fiscal Year 2014 were six years or younger. Infants, pregnant women, and toddlers are detained at both locations. Families are detained on a no bond, no release policy. Thousands of women and children fleeing violence are at risk of permanent psychological trauma and return to persecution if these policies continue. In addition to inadequate access to child care, medical and mental health care, and legal assistance, we find that family detention remains as rife for abuse especially given the vulnerability of this population as we observed with Hutto. In October 2014, the Karnes facility was at the center of allegations of sexual assault by guards threatening or bribing detained women. In another example, a detained young mother at a family facility was suddenly accused of abuse, torn apart from her two small children and transferred to an adult facility without explanation or information on her childrens welfare or whereabouts. Our conclusion is simple: there is no way to humanely detain families. This report recommends that the government close Artesia and Karnes and halt plans for opening a new facility, improve its screening procedures, and revise its policy of no or high bonds for families. The report calls on the government to implement the vast array of cost-effective alternatives to detention that are successful in ensuring participants appear for scheduled court hearings. Details: Baltimore, MD: Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Service, 2014. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 4, 2014 at: http://lirs.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/LIRSWRC_LockingUpFamilyValuesAgain_Report_141030.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://lirs.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/LIRSWRC_LockingUpFamilyValuesAgain_Report_141030.pdf Shelf Number: 133966 Keywords: FamiliesIllegal ImmigrantsImmigrant DetentionImmigrants (U.S.)Immigration Policy |
Author: University of Miami School of Law, Immigration Clinic Title: Aftershocks: The Human Impact of U.S. Deportations to Post-Earthquake Haiti Summary: Haiti still reels from the devastating effects of the January 12, 2010 earthquake that killed up to 300,000 people, rendered one in seven Haitians homeless, and wreaked $9 billion of damage in a country whose 2009 GDP was only $7 billion. The United States recognized the enormity of the crisis and granted Temporary Protected Status to eligible Haitians. Excluded from protection are individuals with certain criminal convictions (one felony or two misdemeanors). Over the past five years, the United States has forcibly returned approximately 1,500 men and women, including those with only minor criminal records, mothers and fathers of U.S. citizen children, people with severe medical and mental health conditions, and others. The result has been utterly devastating to deportees in Haiti and the families they leave behind in the United States. This report details the experiences of deportees - who sometimes refer to themselves as "strangers in a strange land" - and their U.S.-based family members. The report argues that the United States violates the fundamental human rights of Haitian nationals and their family members when it deports them to post-earthquake Haiti without due consideration of the deportees' individual circumstances and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Haiti. Details: Miami: University of Miami School of law, Immigration Clinic, 2015. 92p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 19, 2015 at: http://www.law.miami.edu/clinics/pdf/2015/haiti-report.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Haiti URL: http://www.law.miami.edu/clinics/pdf/2015/haiti-report.pdf Shelf Number: 134647 Keywords: Immigrant DeportationImmigrants (U.S.)Immigrants and CrimeImmigration |