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HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE PRACTICES
of immigration judges, with hearing backlogs of over a year and a half, often
resulting in immigrants with valid claims ultimately giving up their right to a
hearing. In September 2019, the Trump administration introduced accelerated
“rocket dockets”, which limited refugees’ ability to appear in court; in some 17,000
cases, 80% resulted in absentee removal orders, increasing the likelihood that
refugees would be sent back to conditions of danger.®
Private businesses and corporations are contractors in the U.S. immigration
system, operating detention centers and conducting surveillance of asylum seekers.
Private prisons are now the federal government’s default detention facilities for
undocumented immigrants, housing more than three-quarters of the average
daily immigration detainee population. Private prison contractors profit from
the detention of migrants by implementing cost-cutting measures. Human rights
organizations have reported on contracted facilities with sordid, unhygienic
conditions, inadequate food and water, overcrowding, physically violent staff, and
lack of medical and mental health treatment in facilities.
In the midst of the global pandemic, the Trump administration exploited the
public fear surrounding COVID-19 to further wall off asylum seekers in violation
of domestic and international law. In March 2020, the administration began
expanding travel restrictions, slowing visa processing, closing the U.S. border
with Canada and Mexico, and moving to bar asylum seekers and undocumented
immigrants from entering the country. Detention centers housing migrants have
become breeding grounds for contracting sickness and disease, with thousands of
positive tests for COVID-19 in facilities, creating new dangers for migrants already
fleeing dangerous situations.
PROPOSED REFORMS OF THE US IMMIGRATION SYSTEM TO COMPLY WITH
CONSTITUTIONAL DUE PROCESS AND INTERNATIONAL LAW
— Secure Due Process at the Border. Reform the border control system: Man¬
date accountability and transparency of Customs and Border Control agency,
issue broad “credible fear” guidance for assessing asylum claims, require asylum
claims raised in removal proceedings to be fully reviewed and if plausible to be
referred to an immigration judge for determination, curtail expedited removal at
the border, and reopen the green card renewal process and temporary work visas.
— Secure Humanitarian Protections. Reform the asylum and refugee process¬
ing system: Bar the separation of migrant children from their families; prohib¬
it the return of refugees to conditions of persecution; end the ban on asylum
8
Eagly — Shafer, Access to Counsel.
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