asylum seekers finding prison, not protection

Human Rights First, a non-profit, nonpartisan international human rights organization based in New York and Washington D.C. with a mission to promote respect for human rights and the rule of law based on the belief that this will help to ensure the dignity of the individual while simultaneously helping to stem tyranny, extremism, intolerance, and violence.

A new Report Finds U.S. Often Greets Asylum Seekers with Prison, not Protection

Washington, DC – Since 2003, U.S. immigration authorities have spent more than $300 million to detain over 48,000 asylum seekers in U.S. prisons and prison-like facilities – in a system that lacks basic due process safeguards and is inconsistent with America's longstanding commitment to protect those who flee from persecution, according to a report released today by a leading human rights organization.

"Refugees who seek protection in this country are greeted with handcuffs and prison uniforms, and they are treated like prisoners in correctional facilities," said Eleanor Acer, the director of Human Rights First's Refugee Protection Program. "New leadership at the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice should seize the opportunity to end this practice and implement some long overdue reforms, like ensuring that an asylum seeker can't be detained for months or years without having an immigration court consider the need for continued detention."

Human Rights First is calling on the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice, and Congress, to place safeguards on the use of detention for asylum seekers and to improve the conditions where detention may be necessary.