Most Immigrants In Detention Did Not Have Criminal Record

[babylonsister]

Most Immigrants In Detention Did Not Have Criminal Record, Reports AP

MICHELLE ROBERTS | March 15, 2009 07:57 PM EST | AP


America's detention system for immigrants has mushroomed in the last decade, a costly building boom that was supposed to sweep up criminals and ensure that undocumented immigrants were quickly shown the door.

Instead, an Associated Press computer analysis of every person being held on a recent Sunday night shows that most did not have a criminal record and many were not about to leave the country _ voluntarily or via deportation.

An official Immigration and Customs Enforcement database, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, showed a U.S. detainee population of exactly 32,000 on the evening of Jan. 25.

The data show that 18,690 immigrants had no criminal conviction, not even for illegal entry or low-level crimes like trespassing. More than 400 of those with no criminal record had been incarcerated for at least a year. A dozen had been held for three years or more; one man from China had been locked up for more than five years.

Nearly 10,000 had been in custody longer than 31 days _ the average detention stay that ICE cites as evidence of its effective detention management.

Especially tough bail conditions are exacerbated by disregard or bending of the rules regarding how long immigrants can be detained.

Based on a 2001 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, ICE has about six months to deport or release immigrants after their case is decided. But immigration lawyers say that deadline is routinely missed. In the system snapshot provided to the AP, 950 people were in that category.

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/15/most-immigrants-in-detent_n_175118.html

[Angleae]

1. Most in this case is 58.4%

What's the percentage of the general population with no criminal record?

[treestar]

2. Ideal money maker for the prison industrial complex

A constant supply of new prisoners and when finally let go, they come back again to be rounded up again.

[primavera]

3. What a shock

People in the immigration community have been complaining about this for years, but everyone's been on such a 9/11, wave-the-flag, seal-the-borders-at-any-cost kick over the last eight years, no one's paid the slightest attention to the fact that we're now habitually incarcerating large numbers of people whose only crime is having presented themselves at our borders and requested admission. Better to shoot first and ask questions later, right, realists? Due process? We don't need no stinking due process, now do we, realists? Well, this is the omelette that recipe predictably makes: a whole shitload of broken eggs and no measurable improvement in national security. Are we learning yet? Or do we need to ruin a few more tens of thousands of innocent lives before the lesson begins to finally penetrate our stone skulls? Ben Franklin had it right: those who will forfeit liberty for security deserve neither liberty nor security. Wouldn't our founding fathers and all of the heroes who gladly sacrificed their lives for the sake of liberty over the centuries be proud if they could see us now. I'm so ashamed of us.