US to overhaul policy on detention of immigrants
By Anup Mittal | Sat, 08/08/2009 - 22:53
The Obama administration is planning to announce a proposal to revamp the way in which immigration violators in the country are detained, and thus will convert it from jail and prison cells to a new ‘truly civil detention system’ for such violators.
The Obama administration is planning to announce a proposal to revamp the way in which immigration violators in the country are detained, and thus will convert it from jail and prison cells to a new ‘truly civil detention system’ for such violators.
The new plan intends to create a more centralized authority over system, holding almost 400,000 immigration detainees for a period of one year. Even the treatment and medical care of detainees are bound to improve as it came under lot of fire for mistreatment and below standard medical care of detainees.
The first step towards this change starts immediately with the government not sending families to a former state prison near Austin, Texas, Don Hutto Residential Center, which faced an American Civil Liberties Union Lawsuit and biting coverage on news channels for the act of detaining young children behind blade wire.
John Morton, who leads the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency as homeland security’s assistant secretary, said that they are trying to change the ‘one size fits all’ system, adding that there is need to continue detention on large scale, but in a proper and humanely manner.
The secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, estimated that the number of detainees in the US would not get less, but may increase slightly.
Mr. Morton said that the immigration department would try to look for alternatives in order to make sure that people facing deportation, who are not dangerous, do not run away.
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