Under U.S. law, individuals who have been persecuted because of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group may apply for political asylum. To be eligible for asylum, individuals must submit an application and supporting documentation to the Department of Homeland Security. These applications are then reviewed by immigration officials. If the application is granted, asylum-seekers are allowed to remain in the United States, apply for work authorization and eventually seek citizenship. For decades, this policy has offered comfort and protection to countless refugees, from political dissidents in Africa to religious minorities in Asia.
In the 1990s, U.S. immigration policies became increasingly restrictive toward asylum-seekers. Since 2001, these policies have become even more Draconian. In a tragic turn, individuals fleeing persecution are now regularly imprisoned in county jails, federal detention centers and private facilities while U.S. immigration officials process their applications.
Our treatment of these immigrants is not an American narrative our country should seek to write. Individuals who have neither violated the law nor been charged with a crime have languished in detention centers for months or even years. Families are often torn apart, and children have been separated from their parents.
Asylum-seekers are routinely transferred to detention centers far from relatives. In some facilities, visitors are not even allowed to touch detainees, and they are separated by Plexiglas and forced to communicate by telephone.
The conditions of detention are equally troubling. Asylum-seekers are regularly detained in facilities with convicted criminals. They are forced to undergo invasive searches and daily head counts. Even children are subjected to these security measures. Living conditions often fall well below U.S. and international standards. Medical treatment is spotty, and injuries may go untreated. Psychological care is seldom provided.
The plight of torture victims is particularly troubling. It is no surprise that many asylum-seekers are also victims of torture. But these victims are not receiving needed counseling while in detention. Studies have found high rates of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder among detained asylum-seekers. And the psychological harm worsens as the length of detention increases. Even the bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has criticized this policy and the conditions of detention, arguing that they create a serious risk of psychological harm to asylum-seekers.
Detention of asylum-seekers should only be used as a last resort, particularly since alternative programs exist. Individuals whose asylum applications are pending can be monitored in numerous ways, each of which is more humane and less costly than current detention policies. Individuals can be required to post bond or make regular visits to immigration officials. If there are unique concerns, electronic monitoring is a less invasive method.
Earlier this year, the U.N. special rapporteur on migrants, who visited San Diego in 2007, expressed concerns about the overuse of immigration detention in the United States. Indeed, he argued that the “availability of effective alternatives renders the increasing reliance on detention as an immigration enforcement mechanism unnecessary.”
San Diego County currently maintains one private detention facility that houses about 700 immigration detainees, many of them asylum-seekers. The San Diego Correctional Facility in Otay Mesa has been denounced by human rights organizations for its treatment of detainees. Lawyers and health care professionals have complained that placing their clients in these facilities undermines their efforts to provide quality and effective assistance. The San Diego facility has been criticized by the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security. It also has been the subject of a federal lawsuit alleging degrading conditions. This lawsuit seeks to ensure that the conditions of confinement are humane and comply with all appropriate constitutional and statutory safeguards. It is troubling, therefore, to consider that a second detention facility, which would house nearly 3,000 immigrants, is now in the planning stages in San Diego.
The cost of detaining one asylum-seeker at the San Diego Correctional Facility is estimated to be $89.50 per day, though total costs are undoubtedly higher. But the cost to these detainees, who have done nothing wrong, is immeasurable. When individuals seek refuge in our country, we should offer them protection, not prison bars.
Aceves is a professor of law and associate dean for academic affairs at California Western School of Law in San Diego.
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