End Prison Corporations' (GEO & CCA) Abuse of Detained Refugees
- by: Susan V
- recipient: President Obama
Families fleeing violence and poverty in Central American Countries are coming to America - only to face human rights violations at privately-owned U.S. detainee jails.
These detention centers are supposedly overseen by a division of Homeland Security, appropriately named ICE, acronym for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Nevertheless the Karnes Center in Texas, owned by GEO Corporation, is currently holding over 530 children and families under conditions described as “deplorable” by human rights groups.
After visiting the center and speaking to some of the detainees, staff from these groups learned that children were separated from their parents and some were losing weight. Threats of family separation were used to pressure detainees into signing immigration documents like voluntary deportation forms.
Even though an estimated 60% of detainees have valid asylum claims, many do not get the legal help they need to pursue them. But these detentions centers are booming business for the companies who own them. After the Karnes Center converted to holding families, its annual revenues jumped from $15 to $26 million!
America is supposed to be setting an example of freedom and respect for human rights, not exploitation and violation of vulnerable populations. Request that the President put an immediate end to this private corporation exploitation of detained refugees.
We, the undersigned, say this exploitation of asylum seekers is not only bad for the victims but it will be worse for America’s image - when this abuse is properly exposed.
Homeland Security’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) says it “is responsible for upholding DHS standards for integrity and professionalism, by investigating allegations of misconduct involving employees of ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), providing oversight of the detention system and more.
But if ICE and OPR were doing their jobs overseeing our detention system, human rights organizations wouldn’t have to be exposing the violations occurring at centers like Karnes, and the ACLU wouldn’t be threatening legal action.
According to a Truthout report on the abuses at Karnes, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas Adriana Piñon warned that "we're prepared to litigate if we have to.” She added that "No matter what the dressing of the family detention centers that are constructed, there simply is no way to do family detention the 'right way.’”
And certainly it's criminal for private prison companies to threaten detainees with separating them from their children, as Southern Americans had a habit of doing to slaves for centuries. As the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in Washington, DC told Truthout, “more than 60 percent of the children and families fleeing violence in Central American countries have legitimate claims to asylum and international protections."
These people have dealt with more than their share of trauma already without the US allowing private companies to take advantage of their misfortune.
So far only a few states are requiring these private prison companies to comply with the state public records laws so more of their abuses can be brought to light.
But getting all states on board will take too long, therefore we request that President Obama put an IMMEDIATE end to this corporate exploitation of detainees seeking asylum in the United States!
For more on these private prison corporation abuses see this story in Truthout:
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/26358-call-to-close-deplorable-private-detention-center-for-immigrants-made-as-expansion-planned
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