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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH REPORT CRITICIZES INS TREATMENT OF YOUNG ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
For the second time in a year, one of the nation's major human rights organizations has issued a report condemning INS detention practices, this time the INS' treatment of children. The report can be found on the web at http://www.hrw.org/hrw/reports98/ins2/.
At any time there are about 400 juveniles in INS custody, with about 4,300 passing through the INS each year. In a report released in December, the civil rights organization Human Rights Watch blasted the INS' treatment of the children in its custody. According to the report, children are made to share facilities with juvenile criminal offenders, are housed in inadequate facilities and are denied access to legal information and representation.
The INS has a legal obligation to place child detainees in the least restrictive environment and to give them notice of legal rights in a language they can understand. The Human Rights Watch report alleges that detained children are being denied education, interpreters and legal information.
Cheryl Little, of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, says that children are being kept at Miami's Krome Detention Center, in violation of INS rules. She also criticizes the long-standing INS practice of having suspected juveniles examined by a dentist to determine age. 
The INS denies most of the allegations in the report, and says that they have remedied the substantiated problems following discussions with Human Rights Watch in November, 1997. The Service maintains that children are generally quickly released into the custody of family, and they are provided information about legal services.
Human Rights Watch has asked the Organization of American States to investigate INS treatment of child detainees, and has also asked the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to discuss the issue with U.S. officials.