USA: They demand government for data from detained migrants

Cambridge, Massachusetts -

A lawyer clinic affiliated with Harvard University sued US immigration authorities for refusing to disseminate data on the use of solitary confinement in their detention centers for migrants.

Harvard's Legal Clinic for Immigrants and Refugees said in a lawsuit filed in a Federal Boston Court that requested information from the National Security Department (DHS) and at the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE), and that after more than four years none of those agencies have fulfilled.

Migration

The Cambridge -based group said that migrants defenders have expressed concerns about the use of solitary confinement against vulnerable immigrant populations, such as LGBTQ people or those who have disabilities.

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"There is clear evidence that lone confinement has devastating effects, especially trauma survivors," said Sabrineh Ardalan, director of the clinic.

USA: Demandan a gobierno por datos de migrantes detenidos

"It is essential that we obtain these documents to ensure that DHS is not continuing harmful practices," he added.

The clinic says that it presented three requests for information protected by the Law of Freedom of Information in 2017, specifically for data on the use of lonely confinement of immigrants with disabilities, mental illnesses or other vulnerabilities.

The clinic says that ICE indicated in 2018 that it placed the relevant data, but that until now it has not delivered them.

John Mohan, ICE spokesman for the New England region, said the agency does not comment on pending litigation, but pointed out that the use of restrictive accommodation or segregation is "extremely rare, but sometimes it is necessary" when a detainee "isIt becomes conflictive, destructive or insecure. "

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According to the ICE guidelines, detainees can be separated from the general population not only for disciplinary reasons, but also for non -punitive administrative reasons, including the protection of a vulnerable detainee against damage when there are no other reasonable alternatives available.

Segregated detainees continue to have access to visits, the use of the telephone and dining room, as well as daily contact with the detention and medical personnel, and to recreational, library and religious activities, according to the guidelines.

The demand of the clinic also points out that ICE issued a guideline in 2013 that ordered a systematic review of the use of the solitary confinement of the detainees.