CONTINUING CUSTODY OF JUVENILE CHINESE ASYLEE RAISES CONCERNS ABOUT DETENTION PRACTICES

In the spring of 1999, a wave of refugees smuggled from China arrived in Guam, among whom were several teenagers.  The INS brought the juveniles to the US to allow them to seek asylum.  Because they had no family in the US, and arrived without proper documentation, they were detained by the INS and placed among the general criminal population in a juvenile facility in Oregon.  One of them, a 15 year-old girl, was granted asylum on October 27, but still remains in custody.

The INS has explained that the children are in detention because they were smuggled in, and without any family to care for them, if released they could be at the mercy of the smugglers who would demand payment of the $40,000 smuggling fee.  The agency has not been as successful in explaining why the girl granted asylum remains in custody.  She told them of an uncle in New York when she arrived in the spring, but it took the INS until December 6 to conduct a home study.  The INS has still not approved his application for sponsorship, and is investigating why it took so to conduct the home study.

The girl, who has not been identified to protect her and her family in China, was granted asylum because of the persecution she suffered as a third child.  China has a strict two-child limit per family and denies citizenship, medical care and education to third children. 

The continuing detention of this girl has drawn the attention of Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR).  He has sent a letter to INS Commissioner Doris Meissner calling it “completely unacceptable that a child should remain in prison because the bureaucracy failed to complete a simple step of placing them in a caring home.”  He also urged the agency to avoid such “travesties” in the future. 

While in detention the Chinese youths have been housed with the general population, which includes some violent offenders.  They have also been treated like the juveniles in custody for criminal acts, and are transported in handcuffs and have been subjected to body searches.

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