[Cerek the Barbaric]

Originally posted by Grojlach: Funnily enough, I saw a report about this on CNN just a minute ago; they hadn't updated their website yet with that newer report (which contained a response from the U.S. immigration authorities as well, IIRC), but I'm sure it'll follow soon enough. - I would like to see the response from the Immigration Authorities myself. It would be nice to hear the other side of the story concerning these accusations. As it is, I see several points of contention within the article itself - mark it up to my newfound cynism of all things media-related. - U.S. Mistreats Immigrant Children, Amnesty Says Wed June 18, 2003 05:02 PM ET By Jane Sutton MIAMI (Reuters) - The United States locks up more than 5,000 children a year who enter the country illegally and alone, often holding them in harsh conditions without access to lawyers, rights group Amnesty International said on Wednesday. - First point of contention. The headline screams "U.S. MISTREATS IMMIGRANT CHILDREN" and the opening paragraph states that 5,000 children are locked up each year by U.S. Immigration and that they are "often held in harsh conditions". So this implies that ALL 5,000 are recieving harsh and brutal treatment as soon as they step on U.S. soil. Yes, they are locked-up because they entered the country illegally...and when you do something illegal in America, you are usually put in jail. - Some are jailed with criminals, strip-searched, shackled and physically abused, in violation of international accords and of a 1985 U.S. court ruling that children in immigration custody must be treated with "dignity, respect and special concern for their vulnerability as minors," Amnesty said in a report released in Miami and other cities. - "Some are jailed with criminals"...I'm sure that's true...and I'm also sure that some of these "children" are actually teenagers and they are being put in detention cells with other teenagers (as mentioned later in the article). This could be a result of space limitations within the jail also. Of course, the implication is that it is the scared little 5-6 yr old that is placed in this dank cell with dangerouse criminals..yet there are no statistics given to actually substantiate this idea. - Some have been sent by their parents to join relatives in the United States. Others are fleeing abuse, war and recruitment in rebel armies, Amnesty said. "They come to this country seeking freedom only to find themselves instead facing abuse, detention and neglect on the part of U.S. authorities," said Ajamu Baraka, Amnesty's regional director for the southeastern United States. "You are forced to appear before a judge to argue your case by yourself, often in a language you don't understand." - I agree that interpreters and lawyers should be provided for these kids..and the article later suggests that steps are being taken to do this. But as for them having to "appear before a judge and argue your case in a language you don't understand", what else should you expect when you enter illegally into a country where your native language isn't spoken? The court system isn't going out of it's way to be cruel to these immigrants..they are simply treating them the same as every other immigrant. I agree it may seem harsh..but it also may be the best the court system can do with limited resources. - U.S. immigration authorities had no immediate comment. Amnesty said children from all over the world, from toddlers to teens, are held for months and sometimes years while U.S. authorities decide whether to grant them political asylum or humanitarian resettlement. - I'm sure this part is true..but what are U.S. Authorities supposed to do..provide them with free housing while their cases are being decided. Many of our own citizens don't have adequate housing either. I'm sure they feel that they should have the first choice of any free housing the gov't might offer. - EXTENSIVE INTERVIEWS Amnesty's report was based on interviews with detained children and lawyers who work with them, and on surveys sent to 115 U.S. facilities that hold illegal immigrant children. Among the 33 facilities that answered the survey fully, 48 percent said they held unaccompanied minors in the same cells as juvenile offenders and more than half said they used solitary confinement as punishment. Eighty-three percent said they put the children in handcuffs, shackles, belly chains or other restraints when taking them to court or other places outside the facility. Fewer than half of such children have contact with lawyers and there is no system to provide them with adult guardians to speak for them in court, Amnesty said. The report cited examples of treatment it called cruel and degrading: Children at a Pennsylvania facility were kicked and thrown to the floor for infractions such as saying "Can I use the bathroom?" instead of "May I use the bathroom?" it said. Staff at a Texas facility took away blankets and mattresses and turned up the air conditioning to make it "unbearably cold" when children misbehaved, the report said. - I agree these acts are heinous and should be fully investigated, but the article is making the same type of "broad extrapolation" for which you criticized John D. Harris. They are taking isolated incidents and using them as "proof" that ALL 5,000 immigrant children are being summarily abused and mistreated. As evidenced by the following account of Jimmy Noel, this simply is not the case...yet the article and Amnesty International want us to believe that this is type of treatment is the rule rather than the exception. - The report cited one cause for optimism. Responsibility for unaccompanied immigrant children was transferred on March 1 to the newly created U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, and legislation pending in Congress would require that they be given legal guardians and access to translators. Previously, they were in custody of the same immigration agency that was charged with prosecuting them for deportation. - That does sound promising. I agree the kids should have access to lawyers and interpreters and steps are obviously being taken to provide these services by the gov't. Which means they are addressing the concerns raised by Amnesty International, but the article relegates that fact to this one short paragraph and quickly moves on to the next case of mistreatment. - Jimmy Noel was one of the lucky ones. He was 16 when he arrived illegally in October with a boat full of Haitian emigres, hoping to join his family in Miami. He was held under armed guard in a hotel room for two weeks. "My family didn't know where I was ... I didn't get a chance to change clothes. At the hotel there was no staff who spoke Creole who could help me," he told Reuters on Wednesday through a translator. He was held for two months more at a Boys Town facility in Miami, then released to his sister's custody on Christmas Eve after a baffling series of hearings. "I was really scared because I did not know what was going to happen to me," he said. - This is my favorite part of the article and it supports a lot of the comments I've made thus far. Let's look at several key factors. First, Jimmy Noel was 16 - not 6. That means he is a teenager, not a child. Secondly, he was held in a hotel room..not a "jail cell with other criminals" Third, he did not have access to new clothes or an interpreter for the two weeks he was held at the hotel. I agree that he should have access to both of these amenities. From the hotel, he was taken to a Boys Town facility for two months before being released into his siter's custody. So he was never kept in a jail cell and the authorities were able to locate and verify a blood relative in 2.5 months for him to move in with. But since Jimmy Noel's experience contradicts the whole "tone" of the article, it is prefaced with the announcement that he was "one of the lucky ones"..ie, he was an exception to the rule of arbitrary cruelty to which the other 4,999 were subjected to....does that type of argument sound familiar at all? - Source: Reuters Related article: Official Amnesty USA press release [/QB]