Rights Working Group, Due Process and Detention Policy Update

White House announcement about DHS enforcement strategies

Today, the Bush Administration released a fact sheet describing a new interior enforcement and border security strategy. The 26 point plan includes provisions on border security, interior enforcement, worksite enforcement, citizenship, and changes to our existing temporary worker programs, among other provisions. While some of the activities announced are reaffirmations of current policy, the plan also included several new provisions that are of concern. With no plan to enact comprehensive immigration reform in sight, our communities are at risk of increased enforcement without appropriate due process protections and this plan only puts immigrants at greater risk of detention and deportation. We hope that you will contact the administration and your members of Congress to express concern about increased immigration enforcement that does not include the restoration of fairness to our broken system. Below, there is a short description of a few of the most troubling provisions that raise due process, privacy and fairness concerns:

Denying a fair day in court: Immigrants who have a valid claim to stay in the U.S. should be permitted to see a judge and shouldn't be forced to leave the U.S. simply because they previously agreed to voluntarily depart on their own. Today, the administration announced its intention to create a new regulation that would limit an immigrant's access to a hearing if the person previously accepted a form of immigration relief called 'voluntary departure.' Immigrants who have new family relationships such as a recent marriage to a U.S. citizen should be able to ask a judge for relief in their case. By announcing this new regulation, DHS seems intent on doing an end run around several federal court decisions that permit immigrants to have a hearing even though they previously accepted 'voluntary departure.'

(Editors Note:Ian - I asked Kerri to post this here, as it's a very good summary of some of the problems with the DHS plan for cracking down on immigrants - this stuff doesn't just effect immigrants, for example the point below the fold is pretty close to a national "no work list" and very far down the line towards a national ID.)