Report: Obama administration breaks 2009 promise by failing to address the human rights crisis in immigration detention facilities

The Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) and the Midwest Coalition for Human Rights (MCHR) have issued a report that reveals that the Obama administration has broken their 2009 promise by failing to sufficiently address the human rights crisis that is occurring in immigration detention facilities across the nation.  

The report is entitled "Not Too Late for Reform" and is the result of the review of conditions in two detention facilities in Illinois (Jefferson County Jail, and Tri-County Detention Center) and one facility in Kentucky (Boone County Jail).  The report reveals that the conditions in all three facilities were "deplorable" and that these facilities are "typical" of other immigration detention facilities nationwide that house immigrant detainees.

NIJC Executive Director Mary Meg McCarthy calls on the Obama administration to "put an end to this human rights crisis by ending the expansion and privatization of this broken system."

The report makes a demand on the Obama administration to:

• Reduce mass immigration detention by abolishing harsh enforcement practices and referring more individuals into alternative to detention programs
• Close the worst facilities nationwide, including Boone County Jail, Jefferson County Jail, and Tri-County Detention Center
• Cancel plans of opening new facilities operated by private prison contractors that often are responsible for human rights violations
• Restore human rights protections with strong oversight measures
• Save taxpayer dollars by releasing from detention individuals who do not pose a threat to society and assign them to an alternative to detention program.

Click here to read the report.