Introduction
The issue under discussion in this paper is the violation of human rights in the current immigration detention system in the USA. This problem entails the cruel treatment of immigrants in detention while kept in confinement. Evidence demonstrates that people are exposed to the “use of solitary confinement, patterns of sexual abuse, nonconsensual gynecological procedures, and a failure to protect people from COVID-19” (“Congress,” 2022, para. 4). Moreover, the immigrants are in the custody of privately owned facilities that earn money for incarcerating the individuals while traumatizing them and violating their rights to health and dignity. It is important to take action and eliminate the cruel methods used by immigration detention facilities since such interventions are inhumane and hostile.
Discussion
Punitive measures applied to immigrants should not violate human rights and civil liberties. However, the methods and the overall system’s functioning of the modern immigrant detention facilities violate the civil liberties of the right to dignity, health, and bodily integrity (Ly et al., 2021). The issue is included in the promoted actions by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) due to the long-term and systematic neglect of the government to address the cruel immigration detention system. Indeed, “Congress allocates billions of dollars toward maintaining detention facilities that traumatize and harm immigrants” (“Congress,” 2022, para. 1). Moreover, such cruel treatment patronized by the financialization of detention facilities is a direct violation of international laws and agreements, to which the USA is a party. In particular, under international law, “everyone, without distinction of any kind, has the right to medical care, education, liberty, and the right to seek asylum” (Ly et al., 2021, p. 1497). Thus, the scope of negative implications of the problem in the context of human rights justifies the inclusion of the issue in the ACLU’s list of concerns.
The history of the issue entails a long-term existence of facilities funded by the government to detain immigrants. During Trump’s administration, the finance allocation to such facilities was increased, as well as incidents of cruel and inhumane treatment were frequently reported (Ly et al., 2021). With the outbreak of COVID-19, the concerns about the quality of treatment in immigration detention facilities intensified due to the improper imprisonment conditions and the lack of adequate care for the individuals in custody (“Congress,” 2022). At present, Biden’s administration proposes reducing the budget for immigrant detention facilities, which might improve the system’s compliance with human rights.
If people’s right to dignity, health, and bodily integrity were eliminated, they would be exposed to significant levels of abuse from others. It is especially relevant in the context of the relationship between illegal immigrants and law enforcers since the distribution of power of the latter over the former is unequal. Therefore, it is essential to preserve human rights in correctional institutions to protect all people from abuse. The opposition to such an opinion might refer to the effectiveness of the punitive correctional system persisting in the USA, which implies the freedom deprivation and penalties to restrict repetitive cases of breaking the law. The opponents might argue that alternative detention methods, such as social services, electronic monitoring, and regular reporting, will not yield correctional results (Ly et al., 2021). However, the examples of other developed countries’ methods show the effectiveness and long-term benefits of measures recognizing human rights.
Conclusion
In summation, the cruelty of the current immigration detention system in the USA is a vivid example of a severe violation of human rights, namely the right to dignity, health, and bodily integrity. The issue requires immediate action due to its persistence and the system’s reliance on governmental funding. Biden’s administration proposes cutting the budget allocation for the facilities performing immigration detention. This proposition should be supported since it is likely to stop the traumatization of immigrants and advance humane and dignifying approaches to detention.
References
Congress: Shrink the cruel immigration detention system. (2022). Web.
Ly, A., Sprague, A., Pierce, B., Post, C., & Heymann, J. (2021). Immigration detention in the United States: Identifying alternatives that comply with human rights and advance public health. American Journal of Public Health, 111(8), 1497-1503.