Asylum seekers who arrive at U.S. ports of entry without proper documentation are subject to detention while they await the disposition of their asylum cases. These refugees have fled situations of violence and oppression in hopes of seeking freedom in the U.S. only to find themselves locked in detention centers and jails. In the metropolitan New York - New Jersey region, detention means living at the Elizabeth Detention Center (EDC) or in a county jail.
The EDC (pictured above) is former warehouse that was converted into a 300 bed facility. It is run by the Corrections Corportation of American, a private, for-profit prison company. Detainees are kept in prison-like conditions:
- upon entry, detainees are stripped and dressed in prison uniforms
- their possessions are taken from them and locked away
- toilets and showers lack doors for privacy
- detainees spend almost all their time in large, windowless dormitories where the lights are on day and night
- "recreation" consists of an hour a day in a room with windows so high up that they afford only a glimpse of the sky
- mail and phone calls are monitored and detainees may be subject to searches
- visitation is non-contact, that is visitors are separated from detainees by plexiglass windows and must speak over a telephone
Asylum seekers and other undocumented immigrants are also imprisoned in county jails with people convicted of crimes. Counties, too, profit from charging the U.S. government to incarcerate asylum seekers and other refugees.
The average time asylum seekers are detained is 2-3 months, but some asylum seekers have been held in detention for 2 and 3 years as their appeals move through the judicial system.
IRATE believes that asylum seekers who have shown "credible fear" of persecution and even death if they were returned to their countries of origin should be paroled rather than held in detention under conditions that may further traumatize them. We are proud of this countries tradition of welcoming refugees and believe it is time we reformed our immigration laws.
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