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United Nations Tells Us What We Already Know : US Doesn't Protect the Rights of Immigrants

08:45 H | Topics: Immigration

On Friday, the United Nations issued a report saying that the U.S. fails to protect the rights of immigrants, specifically citing the high rates of detention and the lack of access to legal counsel. In the international body’s first scrutiny of US treatment of its 37.5 million noncitizen migrants, UN investigator Jorge Bustamante on Friday took particular aim at what he criticized as the “overuse” of detention for immigrants.

Noting that the annual detainee population has tripled in nine years to 230,000, he called on the United States to eliminate mandatory detention for certain migrants and instead expand the use of alternatives, such as electronic ankle bracelets.
Bustamante also urged that migrants be given the right to legal counsel, more impartial hearings, and improved holding facilities, particularly for women and children.

The official U.S. response to the report? They're disappointed.

The report “focuses only on a narrow slice of the migrant population in the United States and makes no effort to recognize notable, positive aspects of US migration policy,” the statement said. “This results in an incomplete and biased picture of the human rights of migrants.”Bustamante “has made a number of inaccurate or misleading claims and has drawn sweeping conclusions that appear to be based on anecdotal evidence from a small sample of individuals, for which he fails to provide appropriate evidence and reasoning,” Nantel said.

Ah yes because the stories of even a few abuses can't possible be true? I love how the U.S. is using that line about "anecdotal evidence" to silence the reality of the lives of immigrants in the U.S.

Via / Common Dreams

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