NCJ Number
178691
Editor(s)
Lee Tucker,
Lois Whitman,
Cynthia Brown
Date Published
1997
Length
122 pages
Annotation
With a view to identifying and remedying human rights violations, this 1996 study by Human Rights Watch examined the circumstances and conditions under which the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) detains unaccompanied children arrested for immigration offenses.
Abstract
This report discusses detention conditions in Los Angeles County and Arizona, based primarily on site visits and interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch researchers in 1996. Each year, thousands of children enter the United States illegally. Some come with parents or relatives, but most come alone; some are refugees fleeing persecution in their home countries, and others hope to find work and send money home to their poverty-stricken families. When they reach the United States, usually with little money and no ability to speak or understand English, these children face an uncertain future. Many of the children are apprehended by the INS. They then face deportation or exclusion proceedings, and most are either released to family members or expelled from the United States within a few days; however, for a variety of reasons, some of these children are detained by the INS while their cases are pending; at any given time, more than 200 children are in longer-term INS custody. Unaccompanied children are too young to be released on their own recognizance. This means that those who have no close relatives in the United States remain in detention under the legal guardianship of the INS. This 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 recommends 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 makes a series of recommendations regarding detention policies and conditions, access to legal information and representation, and monitoring of conditions and practices. Appended documents that present internationally endorsed rights for children