AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT CRITICIZES US POLICY OF DETAINING ASYLUM SEEKERS

On September 28, 1999 the human rights group Amnesty International released a report entitled “Lost in the Labyrinth,” which investigates the INS practice of detaining asylum seekers.  One of the primary concerns of the report is conditions of detention for asylum seekers who are housed in local jails with criminals serving sentences.

The report details many of the horrors asylum seekers undergo because of detention.  Detention makes it difficult to obtain legal counsel and translators necessary to present an asylum case.  Also, detention can continue even after a person has been granted asylum if the INS appeals the decision.  Perhaps worst of all, asylum seekers are generally fleeing a life-threatening situation, and in detention there is very little access to psychological assistance.  Depression and suicide attempts are common in detention facilities.

The INS contends that it is committed to humane treatment of asylum seekers, and notes its record from October 1998 to May 1999 as evidence.  Of the 3,200 asylum seekers who arrived in the US during that period, only 13% are still in detention, 20% have been granted asylum, and 67% have been released from detention pending the final disposition of their claim.

The Amnesty International report is available online at http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/aipub/1999/AMR/25105199.htm

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