From the President’s Desk
June 2008

Immigration Enforcement-Do These Ends Really Justify the Means?
By Ralston Deffenbaugh, LIRS President

The disproportionately high human costs of immigration enforcement have come into stark focus these past weeks. On Mother’s Day, May 11, the Washington Post began a four-part major investigative series on “Careless Detention: The Medical Treatment of Immigrants.” The Post found that there were 83 deaths in U.S. immigration detention facilities between March 2003 and March 2008, of which 30 were identified as “questionable.” Then on May 12, in Postville, Iowa, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) launched its largest single workplace raid to date. Some 390 of the town’s 2,300 residents were detained and held at a fairground 75 miles away.

The Post’s report cast a light into one of the many dark corners of the U.S. immigration detention system—that of inadequate medical care that has all too often resulted in unnecessary death. Average daily immigration detention has risen dramatically, from just over 19,000 three years ago to over 33,000 now. Health systems have not kept pace. In extraordinarily extensive and thoroughly documented detail, the Post laid out the cases of persons whose medical needs were ignored or denied, resulting in their deaths. The Post also exposed the nonmedical use of powerful psychological drugs to sedate persons in detention facilities or persons facing deportation.

Particularly shocking is that many of those in immigration detention, and some of those who have died, are persons who have not been charged with any crime and who do not pose a threat to anyone. They include asylum seekers and victims of torture, persons who come to the United States for refuge from persecution only to find themselves behind bars until their cases can be heard. If the purpose of immigration detention is to ensure that individuals show up for their immigration hearings or do not abscond pending deportation, then one must ask why so many are being detained when these issues are not at stake. Even when these are the concerns, one wonders whether less restrictive measures would not achieve the same end at far less cost in human life and liberty.

Then came Postville. The ICE raid on May 12 targeted the employees at Agriprocessors, Inc., the nation’s largest kosher meatpacking plant. Federal agents have said they are investigating knowing violations of immigration law on the part of the company, including keeping separate lists of undocumented workers. Union organizers have also alleged wage and labor violations, such as paying undocumented workers less than minimum wage, employing underage children and threatening retaliation against workers who complain. If true, no one can condone these practices and the company should be prosecuted. Yet the 390 persons detained in the raid were all workers; none were management. More than 300 of them have been charged with crimes relating to identity fraud around false or improper Social Security numbers.

As reported in this month’s “Advocacy Update,” the ICE raid's impact has devastated the Postville community. The raid is yet another example of the harsh environment of fear that immigrants—documented and undocumented—now face, especially since the collapse of comprehensive immigration reform last summer. Most of those taken into custody are honest, hardworking people just trying to make a living. Many have been part of the community for years, without any way to legalize their immigration status. Most have paid income taxes and contributed to a Social Security system from which they will never benefit. As a result of the raid, families have been torn apart, children have been traumatized, and a diverse community that was once thriving is now in complete upheaval.

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