By Zoila Palma: Human rights organizations are asking a United Nations panel to intervene over a new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) practice that withholds the locations of thousands of detainees facing deportation from their families and lawyers.
ICE removed the names of detainees with final removal orders from its Online Detainee Locator System on September 15, a change that reportedly affects more than 16,000 of the nearly 69,000 people in ICE custody, AP reports.
Immigration advocates say the policy is making it more difficult for detainees to access legal representation and challenge their deportations, while leaving families unable to locate their relatives.
A coalition of more than 30 organizations petitioned the U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, asking it to declare the practice a violation of international law and urge ICE to reverse it. More than 45 House Democrats have also called on ICE to restore the detainees’ names to the online system.
The Department of Homeland Security rejected claims that the policy amounts to making detainees disappear, saying detainees have opportunities to communicate with family members and attorneys and that the department’s procedures comply with due process.
However, the human rights coalition said the policy has obstructed lawyers from locating their clients and intervening in cases involving immigration relief, detention challenges and deportation orders.
The post International News: Human Rights groups urge UN to challenge ICE policy hiding detainee locations appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Zoila Palma: Human rights organizations are asking a United Nations panel to intervene over a new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) practice that withholds the locations of thousands of detainees facing deportation from their families and lawyers. ICE removed the names of detainees with final removal orders from its Online Detainee Locator System
The post International News: Human Rights groups urge UN to challenge ICE policy hiding detainee locations appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
