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UNITED NATIONS CRITICIZES INS PRACTICE OF JAILING REFUGEES
Following the adoption on February 10, 1998 by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) of uniform, liberalized refugee processing, the UNHCR recently criticized the INS’s treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. Karen AbuZayd, the U.S. representative to the UNHCR, called upon the U.S. government to "seriously consider alternatives to detention," saying that "asylum seekers who are not a threat to society should not be detained and should not be treated as criminals." The UNHCR has also sent a letter to INS Commissioner Doris Meissner, requesting that she use her discretion to follow the UN guidelines and release asylum seekers arriving at U.S. ports of entry.
The INS responded that only about 5%, or 5,000 of the 100,000 refugees and asylum seekers each year are detained, and only then because they either lack documentation or have suspicious documents. Dennis McNamera, director of the UNCHR division of international protection, prior to a meeting with Meissner, said that noncriminal refugees should never be detained, regardless of the condition of their documents. He noted that the U.N. Convention on Refugees states that a refugee should not be punished for illegally entering a country, which would include detention.
According to UN officials, because of the long history the U.S. has of favorable treatment of refugees, the INS’ failure to comply with UN guidelines is particularly worrisome that the regulations on the treatment of refugees imposed in 1996 so concerns the UNCHR.