VTMBH Article: Body
More than 10 non-governmental organizations convened yesterday to protest the United States immigration policy and the detention of 75 immigrants in the Passaic County Jail. The detainees, who come from over 40 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe, were charged for being in the United States without legal documents, and most have been held in Passaic, N.J. prison since the middle of this year.
We want to make public the statement the prisoners signed, in which they detail the innumerable abuses committed against them, said Daniel Vila of the Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants (CHRI).
The statement demands solutions for the detainees--who, according to CHRI member Mac Scott, have no connections to terrorist groups, nor do they represent a threat to national security. Some of these prisoners have been held for over a year in state prisons awaiting deportation, said Scott. This is a direct attack. Because of the way the immigration laws of this country work, [the detainees] dont even have the right to a court-appointed lawyer.
According to Scott, in most cases once the INS arrests someone, a background check takes three days and then immigrants detained by the INS can remain in prison for anywhere from two months to a year.
Vila explained that detainees are usually transferred from local to state prisons in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and other northeastern states.
Many of the detainees come from New York prisons and sometimes their families dont even know what happened to them, said Vila. We have one case of an Ethiopian immigrant, Nesiredin Ebrahim, who disappeared three weeks ago. His family and friends dont know where he is after so many transfers. This person could be dead, Vila added.
For many immigrants detained in U.S. prisons awaiting imminent deportation, some with a criminal record and others without, the case of Vidal Ramírez is all too familiar. According to his mother, María Ramírez, Vidal was arrested in Long Island in 2001 for for driving under the influence and sentenced to one year of prison in 2001. From then until July of this year he was at a Nassau County prison. Then, he was transferred to federal custody, to Passaic County Jail where
he awaits deportation to El Salvador.
My son doesnt want to go back to his country, said María Ramírez. He has family here, a wife and three children who need him. He doesnt have much hope, she added.
CHRI is aware of at least 75 cases of detainees held in cells rented by the federal government from the Passaic County Jail at a cost of $77 a day.
The federal government should stop this practice of indiscriminately detaining immigrants under the US Patriot Act," said Scott. With the application of the Patriot Act the face of American society will change completely.
We want to make public the statement the prisoners signed, in which they detail the innumerable abuses committed against them, said Daniel Vila of the Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants (CHRI).
The statement demands solutions for the detainees--who, according to CHRI member Mac Scott, have no connections to terrorist groups, nor do they represent a threat to national security. Some of these prisoners have been held for over a year in state prisons awaiting deportation, said Scott. This is a direct attack. Because of the way the immigration laws of this country work, [the detainees] dont even have the right to a court-appointed lawyer.
According to Scott, in most cases once the INS arrests someone, a background check takes three days and then immigrants detained by the INS can remain in prison for anywhere from two months to a year.
Vila explained that detainees are usually transferred from local to state prisons in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and other northeastern states.
Many of the detainees come from New York prisons and sometimes their families dont even know what happened to them, said Vila. We have one case of an Ethiopian immigrant, Nesiredin Ebrahim, who disappeared three weeks ago. His family and friends dont know where he is after so many transfers. This person could be dead, Vila added.
For many immigrants detained in U.S. prisons awaiting imminent deportation, some with a criminal record and others without, the case of Vidal Ramírez is all too familiar. According to his mother, María Ramírez, Vidal was arrested in Long Island in 2001 for for driving under the influence and sentenced to one year of prison in 2001. From then until July of this year he was at a Nassau County prison. Then, he was transferred to federal custody, to Passaic County Jail where
he awaits deportation to El Salvador.
My son doesnt want to go back to his country, said María Ramírez. He has family here, a wife and three children who need him. He doesnt have much hope, she added.
CHRI is aware of at least 75 cases of detainees held in cells rented by the federal government from the Passaic County Jail at a cost of $77 a day.
The federal government should stop this practice of indiscriminately detaining immigrants under the US Patriot Act," said Scott. With the application of the Patriot Act the face of American society will change completely.