Immigrant rights advocates have long decried the lack of due process protections in the immigration system, particularly the unjust consequences of expanding immigration detention.
The Vera Institute of Justice has now published statistics that document the striking disparity in outcomes between immigrants fighting deportation while free from detention and those who remain detained.
These statistics reflect barriers to justice that confront detained New Yorkers, including severely limited access to legal counsel and community support, especially for the majority of detainees who are transferred to jail facilities in Texas, Louisiana, and other distance locations, said Families For Freedom in a press release.
The study confirms advocates' critiques of immigration detention, and raises questions about New York's collaboration with the grossly unfair federal deportation system.
The Vera Institute's findings reinforce the experience of those familiar with the deportation process.
Ravi Ragbir, a member of Families For Freedom and an organizer with the New Sanctuary Coalition, has witnessed first-hand the ways in which detention and lack of representation discourage immigrants from mounting a full legal challenge to their deportation.
Ragbir commented, "I've seen hundreds of people pushed through immigration proceedings simply because they did not have legal representation. I've also seen people so traumatized by detention that they did not exercise their legal rights in fully fighting their cases, especially if they also lacked representation."
"These statistics confirm the lack of fairness in the deportation system our community experiences on a daily basis," said Mizue Aizeki, of the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights.
"There is something deeply wrong with a deportation system that allows the government to detain hundreds of thousands of people annually with so few legal rights – it is unconscionable that the government is creating even more obstacles for people to effectively fight deportation given that excessively harsh laws make deportation a mandatory punishment for most."
Immigrant community organizations are particularly concerned for two reasons. First, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is already publicly gearing up for further expansion of detention of New Yorkers, such as the planned 2,700-bed facility in Essex, New Jersey, doubling its capacity for detention in the Northeast.
Second, New York is already collaborating with ICE to detain and deport its immigrant community, and as the Vera Institute's statistics are being released, New York is dramatically increasing its role in facilitating detention and deportation of immigrant New Yorkers.
"Even as the Vera Institute releases damning evidence about the lack of due process for New Yorkers shuttled into a broken deportation system, our state continues to increase its efforts to collaborate with immigration enforcement programs like Secure Communities," says Alisa Wellek, of the Immigrant Defense Project, referencing a rapidly expanding federal program that would require local law enforcement to funnel immigrants directly into the deportation system.
Immigrant advocates are united in demanding an end to the use of detention. Furthermore, they call on the governor to stand up for New York immigrants and end cooperation with federal enforcement programs like Secure Communities.
Ultimately, though, this unjust system also requires national action: as Aizeki says "The growing collaboration between police and ICE heightens the urgency for President Obama to immediately issue a moratorium to stop the mass deportations – the U.S. must not continue to violate due process rights by permanently exiling residents without a fair day in court."
