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Raiding the Family Room in Texas: Lan Ying and the Rapporteur for Migrant Rights
By Greg Moses (about the author)
Become a Fan -- Page 2 of 3 page(s)
"Detention is emotionally and financially devastating," writes the UN Rapporteur, "particularly when it divides families and leaves spouses and children to fend for themselves in the absence of the family's main financial provider." The report is sharply critical of mandatory detention laws that were placed on the books during backlash politics of 1996.
"Estimates based on the United States census find that 1.6 million adults and children, including United States citizens, have been separated from their spouses and parents because of the 1996 legislation and the expansion of the aggravated felony definition," says the Bustamante report. "Families have been torn apart because of a single, even minor misdemeanour, such as shoplifting or drug possession."
"In addition to the devastating effect that mandatory detention has on detained individuals, the policy has an overwhelmingly negative impact on the families of detainees, many of whom are citizens of the United States," writes the Rapporteur.
In fact, Ryan began to fear that he, too, might be jailed without warning, leaving Lan's daughter without a custodian. So he arranged to have the little girl placed with one of Lan's relatives in the Dallas area. Lan's daughter, a US citizen, had only recently been reunited with her mother. And now, following the "interview" on Stemmons Freeway, the family of three had been completely torn apart.
"Mandatory detention and deportation policy, therefore, has significant effects on United States citizens and the children of permanent residents, and other family members," says the Bustamante report. "Families consistently bear many of the psychological, geographic, economic, and emotional costs of detention and deportation."
***
Immigration authorities told Ryan to look for Lan in Dallas or Haskell, but he found her in Euless instead. At least in Euless, they let Ryan talk with Lan through a phone receiver across a glass partition. For two or three nights he could see her and speak with her for a half hour or so. Then, indeed, she was packed off to Haskell.
The Rolling Plains Regional Jail and Detention Facility in Haskell, Texas, is a 550-bed operation located 160 miles west of Fort Worth managed by the Emerald Companies. While Lan was there, it held men and women prisoners from Wyoming, but Wyoming reported bringing the women back in 2007 and expects to bring back the men in the near future. Of course, the Dallas immigration office sends people there, too.
Albanian asylum seeker Rrustem Neza languished for a year at Haskell prison under "indefinite detention," separated from his wife and two boys. He was released on bond in late February, 2008, following a discussion of his case before the US House Subcommittee on Immigration.
Several asylum-seeking Palestinian families rounded up by immigration authorities days before the 2006 election were divided between Haskell prison and the T. Don Hutto prison in Taylor, Texas. Lan was placed into the Haskell cell that confined 20-year-old Suzi Hazahza and her 23-year-old sister Mirvat, who have since been deported.
"Immigrants indefinitely detained are left uncertain of their status, their rights and their futures," says the Bustamante report. "Indefinite detention subjects the families of detained immigrants to the agony of not knowing when their loved one will be released or removed. It exacerbates existing mental health problems and retraumatizes individuals who have been subjected to torture or other forms of persecution in their home countries."
***
In order to get Lan released from Haskell, Ryan collected 85 letters from family and friends. She was released after three months. Since that time, Lan has reported to immigration authorities on a monthly basis via telephone. Last summer, Ryan said the couple was summoned for another "interview" which he attended by himself.
"I just told them that they didn't really want to clean the room, because Lan gets really ill over these things now." It was a real interview that time, and apparently it went well.
At the end of the UN Special Report on Rights of Migrants in the USA, Rapporteur Bustamante makes a few recommendations. He suggests a second look at the 1996 policies which invoked the structure of mandatory, indefinite detentions. He recommends a genuine system of independent immigration judges who are not bound by Justice Department structures to ignore important questions of family rights.
"United States immigration laws should be amended to ensure that all non-citizens have access to a hearing before an impartial adjudicator, who will weigh the non-citizen's interest in remaining in the United States (including their rights to found a family and to a private life) against the Government's interest in deporting him or her," says the UN report.
Become a Fan -- Page 2 of 3 page(s)
"Estimates based on the United States census find that 1.6 million adults and children, including United States citizens, have been separated from their spouses and parents because of the 1996 legislation and the expansion of the aggravated felony definition," says the Bustamante report. "Families have been torn apart because of a single, even minor misdemeanour, such as shoplifting or drug possession."
"In addition to the devastating effect that mandatory detention has on detained individuals, the policy has an overwhelmingly negative impact on the families of detainees, many of whom are citizens of the United States," writes the Rapporteur.
In fact, Ryan began to fear that he, too, might be jailed without warning, leaving Lan's daughter without a custodian. So he arranged to have the little girl placed with one of Lan's relatives in the Dallas area. Lan's daughter, a US citizen, had only recently been reunited with her mother. And now, following the "interview" on Stemmons Freeway, the family of three had been completely torn apart.
"Mandatory detention and deportation policy, therefore, has significant effects on United States citizens and the children of permanent residents, and other family members," says the Bustamante report. "Families consistently bear many of the psychological, geographic, economic, and emotional costs of detention and deportation."
***
Immigration authorities told Ryan to look for Lan in Dallas or Haskell, but he found her in Euless instead. At least in Euless, they let Ryan talk with Lan through a phone receiver across a glass partition. For two or three nights he could see her and speak with her for a half hour or so. Then, indeed, she was packed off to Haskell.
The Rolling Plains Regional Jail and Detention Facility in Haskell, Texas, is a 550-bed operation located 160 miles west of Fort Worth managed by the Emerald Companies. While Lan was there, it held men and women prisoners from Wyoming, but Wyoming reported bringing the women back in 2007 and expects to bring back the men in the near future. Of course, the Dallas immigration office sends people there, too.
Albanian asylum seeker Rrustem Neza languished for a year at Haskell prison under "indefinite detention," separated from his wife and two boys. He was released on bond in late February, 2008, following a discussion of his case before the US House Subcommittee on Immigration.
Several asylum-seeking Palestinian families rounded up by immigration authorities days before the 2006 election were divided between Haskell prison and the T. Don Hutto prison in Taylor, Texas. Lan was placed into the Haskell cell that confined 20-year-old Suzi Hazahza and her 23-year-old sister Mirvat, who have since been deported.
"Immigrants indefinitely detained are left uncertain of their status, their rights and their futures," says the Bustamante report. "Indefinite detention subjects the families of detained immigrants to the agony of not knowing when their loved one will be released or removed. It exacerbates existing mental health problems and retraumatizes individuals who have been subjected to torture or other forms of persecution in their home countries."
***
In order to get Lan released from Haskell, Ryan collected 85 letters from family and friends. She was released after three months. Since that time, Lan has reported to immigration authorities on a monthly basis via telephone. Last summer, Ryan said the couple was summoned for another "interview" which he attended by himself.
"I just told them that they didn't really want to clean the room, because Lan gets really ill over these things now." It was a real interview that time, and apparently it went well.
At the end of the UN Special Report on Rights of Migrants in the USA, Rapporteur Bustamante makes a few recommendations. He suggests a second look at the 1996 policies which invoked the structure of mandatory, indefinite detentions. He recommends a genuine system of independent immigration judges who are not bound by Justice Department structures to ignore important questions of family rights.
"United States immigration laws should be amended to ensure that all non-citizens have access to a hearing before an impartial adjudicator, who will weigh the non-citizen's interest in remaining in the United States (including their rights to found a family and to a private life) against the Government's interest in deporting him or her," says the UN report.
Greg Moses is author of Revolution of Conscience: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Philosophy of Nonviolence.
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