Detained and Deprived of Rights: Children in the Custody of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service

• NCJ Number: 178698
• Journal: Human Rights Watch Volume: 10 Issue: 4 Dated: December 1998 Pages: 1-28
• Author(s): Jo Becker
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 28 pages
• Corporate Author: Human Rights Watch
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This follow-up study of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services' (INS') management of children held in custody involved several site visits in Pennsylvania to review the agency's progress in correcting human rights violations identified in a previous 1997 study of children held by the INS in Arizona and California.

Abstract

The previous report detailed numerous violations of children's rights in breach of the U.S. Constitution, U.S. statutory provisions, INS regulations, the terms of court orders binding on the INS, and international law. Specifically, the study found that with regard to unaccompanied children, the INS has an inherent and troubling conflict of interest; children are arrested, imprisoned, and frequently removed by the same agency that is charged with caring for them and protecting their legal rights. Additionally, the study found that too many children were detained in jail-like conditions for long periods of time. Further, the INS failed to inform children of their legal rights, interfered with their efforts to obtain legal representation, and failed to facilitate contact with their family members. Human Rights Watch recommended that the U.S. Congress separate the INS' caregiving function from its enforcement function by placing unaccompanied children in the custody of appropriate child welfare authorities. The report also made a series of recommendations regarding detention policies and conditions, access to legal information and representation, and monitoring of conditions and practices. The current study of the conditions of detention for children at the Berks County Youth Center in Leesport, Pa., found that although the INS has made efforts to improve its policies and practices regarding unaccompanied minors, many of the concerns raised in the 1997 report remain unaddressed, as the INS continues to violate its own regulations and the rights of children in its custody. The recommendations presented in this report reiterate many of those made in the 1997 report. 101 footnotes