and of itself can virtually seal an immigrant's fate. "America should be outraged by the scale of human rights abuses occurring within its own borders," said Larry Cox, executive director of AIUSA. "Officials are locking up thousands of human beings without due process and holding them in a system that is impossible to navigate without the legal equivalent of GPS. The United States has long been a country of immigrants, and whether they have been here five years or five generations, their human rights are to be respected. The U.S. government must ensure that every person in immigration detention has a hearing to determine whether that detention is necessary."



For many immigrants, release from detention is out of reach because bonds are set impossibly high.

Immigrants are often put in excessive restraints, including handcuffs, belly chains and leg restraints, and are detained alongside individuals incarcerated for criminal offenses. Immigrant detainees also find it difficult to get medical attention; at least 74 immigrants have died in detention during the last five years.



For more information, please visit http://www.amnestyusa.org.