advancing & protecting human rights
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Abstract:
This essay explores an immigration enforcement strategy known as IDENT/IAFIS Interoperability, comparing the strategy under its original Secure Communities structure, and under the recently-announced Priority Enforcement Program (PEP). In addition to Secure Communities and PEP, this paper discusses related enforcement programs, overall immigration enforcement goals, and the outcomes of recent enforcement efforts. The paper examines Constitutional challenges to the enforcement programs, and explores deeper issues related to the spectrum of state and local criminal laws, community trust in law enforcement, and dangers of the immigration detention system as it currently exists. Ultimately, this essay provides policy recommendations to address the challenges introduced by Secure Communities and the Priority Enforcement Program.
This essay was prepared by Robert Goodis to fulfill his Upper Level Writing Requirement at American University, Washington College of Law, in the spring of 2015. The paper appears here in the exact form submitted to WCL faculty. It is included in the archives of The Goodis Center because of the relevance of the subject-matter to our ongoing research. This essay may be called a working paper of The Goodis Center – we welcome feedback and discussion.
View the full essay here or browse our archive of full reports and essays.
This report, prepared in 2010, documents the state of United States immigration detention practices, focusing on Northwest Detention Center – run by The GEO Group, Inc. – and on the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility – run by the Corrections Corporation of America.
The report was prepared by Robert Goodis as his Senior Project in fulfillment of the requirements for his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Human Rights at Bard College. The report concludes that further research is necessary to reach any viable sociology-based recommendations, and it is based on these findings that The Goodis Center has continued researching immigration detention as one of our primary areas of focus. While the report was unable to point to a sociological key to reforming immigration detention, it does unveil systemic problems in immigration detention across the United States and broadly offer the insight that alternatives to detention should be used whenever possible.
An excerpt from Chapter Three – Case Study: T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility, Williamson County, TX, and the Corrections Corporation of America is included below. The full report is available for viewing and download here.
Read the rest of the report here.
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………….. 1
Focusing on Asylum-Seekers, Asylees, and Refugees………………………………………… 1
Chapter One………………………………………………………………………………………. 3
A Short Introduction to Refugee Policy and the Definitions of Refugee & Asylum-Seeker ……. 3
A Brief Historical Survey of the Role of Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in U.S. Legislation …… 14
A Survey and Summary of Select Laws, Doctrines, and Jurisprudence Affecting Refugee and
Asylum-Seeker Detention in the United States ……………………………………………………………… 17
The Response-Time of the United States in Changing Laws to Abide by International
Standards ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 34
Chapter Two – Case Study: Northwest Detention Center …………………………………………………… 36
The History and Purpose of the Northwest Detention Center and The GEO Group, Inc. …….. 36
Facility Design, Daily Living, and Detainee Demographics ……………………………………………. 38
Issues Facing Detainees at NWDC ………………………………………………………………………………. 41
Due process and grievances at NWDC ……………………………………………………………………… 41
Food, living conditions, medical care, and visitation at NWDC …………………………………… 48
Punishment and treatment by guards ………………………………………………………………………… 55
Administration and Oversight Issues at NWDC …………………………………………………………….. 59
Chapter Three – Case Study: T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility, Williamson County, TX,
and the Corrections Corporation of America ………………………………………………………………….. 66
The History and Purpose of the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility and the Corrections
Corporation of America ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 66
Facility Design, Daily Living, and Detainee Demographics ……………………………………………. 71
Issues Facing Detainees at Hutto …………………………………………………………………………………. 78
Due process and grievances at Hutto ………………………………………………………………………… 78
Food, living conditions, visitation, medical care, and education at Hutto ………………………. 83
Punishment and treatment by guards ………………………………………………………………………… 93
Administration and Oversight Issues at Hutto ……………………………………………………………….. 97
Chapter Four – Analysis, Conclusions, and Recommendations …………………………………………. 102
The Human Rights, Social, and Legal Implications of Contemporary Detention Practices … 102
The Human Rights, Social, and Legal Implications of Contemporary Detention Practices as
Analyzed through a Sociological Approach ………………………………………………………………… 114
Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 125
Acronyms and Abbreviations ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 151
“Contemporary Immigration Detention Practices in the United States: A Study in Sociology and Human Rights” is a study on the detention and incarceration of immigrants, with particular focus on the effects and implications of detaining refugees and asylum-seekers, in the United States. The study reports on two specific detention facilities—the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, and the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility (a.k.a. T. Don Hutto Residential Center) in Taylor, Texas—as sociological case-studies, primarily presented as legal briefs, to explore how contemporary detention practices relate to the legal structure and ideals established by domestic and international law, including international human rights law. Through an analysis of how current practices satisfy or miss ideal standards set by laws, declarations, policies, and other such guidelines, this study determines that current detention practices constitute a clear and detrimental case of systemic human rights violations. While a brief sociological exploration of the trends and conditions in immigration detention offers various theories which may explain—and eventually go into forming an effective remedy for—these violations, this study can only determine that more research needs to be compiled in order to reach any valid sociological conclusions.
The report is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Browse our archive of full reports and essays.
For Immediate Release
The Goodis Center Has Reached the GuideStar Exchange Bronze Participation Level as a
Demonstration of Its Commitment to Transparency
February 4, 2015
SILVER SPRING, MD – The Goodis Center for Research and Reform, Inc., today received the GuideStar Exchange Bronze participation level, a leading symbol of transparency and accountability provided by GuideStar USA, Inc., the premier source of nonprofit information. This level demonstrates The Goodis Center’s deep commitment to nonprofit transparency and accountability.
“We have worked hard to showcase our progress toward our mission, and our long-held belief in being transparent about our work, to our constituents,” said Robert Goodis, The Goodis Center’s Executive Director. “As a GuideStar Exchange participant, we use their platform to share a wealth of up-to-date information about our work to our supporters and GuideStar’s immense online audience of nonprofits, grantmakers, individual donors, and the media.”
In order to be awarded the GuideStar Exchange logo, The Goodis Center had to fill out every required field of our nonprofit report page on www.guidestar.org for the Bronze level of participation.
“I encourage you to check out our profile on GuideStar to see what we’re all about,” added Robert. “We are engaged in a number of initiatives, and we are thrilled to have another platform for communicating our advancement and progress.”
In his capacity as the executive director, Robert Goodis said he also planned to pursue a higher participation level with the GuideStar Exchange initiative in the future:
“We are preparing to enter a new stage with our programs. We’re working on expanding and rejuvenating some of our ongoing projects, and also preparing to launch some new programs that we’ve had in development for some time now. This is an exciting time for The Goodis Center, and our expansion will make it easier to share our impact with GuideStar and our supporters.”
The Bronze Participant badge now appears on The Goodis Center’s official website, which is in the middle of a major overhaul.
About the GuideStar Exchange
The GuideStar Exchange is an initiative designed to connect nonprofits with current and potential supporters. With millions of people coming to GuideStar to learn more about nonprofit organizations, the GuideStar Exchange allows nonprofits to share a wealth of up-to-date information with GuideStar’s many audiences. Becoming a GuideStar Exchange participant is free of charge. To join, organizations need to update their report pages, completing all required fields for participation. The GuideStar Exchange level logos, acknowledged as symbols of transparency in the nonprofit sector, are displayed on all Exchange participants’ nonprofit reports.
The Goodis Center for Research and Reform, Inc.
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News Contact: Robert Goodis
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is honored to host United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, for a major public address on the connection between human rights and atrocity prevention. Watch the live webcast on Thursday, February 5, at 10 a.m. EST:
If the video above does not work, click here to watch.
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein became the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in September 2014, following his tenure as Jordan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. Throughout his career, he has prioritized peace-building and accountability for human rights violations.
Holocaust survivor Margit Meissner will introduce the High Commissioner, whose remarks will be followed by a question-and-answer session.
Continue the discussion at #genprev. Follow the USHMM at @HolocaustMuseum.
31 January 2012
I don’t normally send out announcements like this, but there have been some exciting new changes at The Goodis Center lately, and I want to keep everyone in the loop. If you have any questions about this announcement or The Goodis Center in general, don’t hesitate to contact us.
*The Goodis Center was awarded free advertising by Facebook.*
The Goodis Center received a small credit for advertising on Facebook as part of their effort to help promote specially qualified small businesses.
I drew up a quick ad tonight and launched it at 7pm. Since launching the ad, it’s used 2.4% of our ad credit and the page has gone from 137 “likes” to 146. We’re going to try to maintain the momentum going by keeping the social media and website pages active with new and up-to-date content on a regular basis.
If you aren’t already following us on Facebook and Twitter, you can check us out at:
http://on.fb.me/TheGoodisCenter
http://twitter.com/TheGoodisCenter
*Our redesigned website launched today.*
In keeping with my own deadline to launch the new website in the month of January, the new site went live around noon today. There are still several pages that need to be completed with new content, but the core of the site is up and functional.
One exciting new feature on the site is the ability to read the Journal for Human Advancement online by “paying” with a Tweet or Facebook post. CD copies (ISSN 2152-2766) are still for sale at their regular $3 price.
Check out the new site at it’s home domain, robertgoodis.com, or any of the new domains: robertgoodis.org, goodiscenter.org, or thegoodiscenter.org. The latter of the new domains is going to be the official domain used on all publications and materials.
http://www.thegoodiscenter.org
*We have a new logo!*
Graphic design of the new Goodis Center logo was done by Martin Krebs of Windy Meadow Graphic Design (windymeadow.net). We’ll be receiving new files with variations of the logo, including different resolutions and gray-scale versions, for use with all our print and digital materials in the near future. If any of the logos look a little fuzzy right now, that’s because I jumped the gun. Martin did a fantastic job with the logo, and I know you’ll agree when you see it in use on our various print and digital materials.
*Announcing our new staff members*
*Alexander Thompson* is still involved as our associate arts editor, and I’m still working in the same capacity as usual. We do have a few new staffing changes to announce, though: *Megan Towey* has joined us part-time as a research and administrative assistant, and *Lena Batchan* is going to be freelancing with us to help with projects like our Journal for Human Advancement.
I’m also in communication with a few individuals to see whether we can finally start a research-intensive internship with students at Bard College this semester. More details on this effort will be posted to the website in due time.
*Update on the Journal – New issue to be released in February*
We’ve received some great submissions for the forthcoming issue of the Journal for Human Advancement: Independent Projects for Progress and Human Rights, our interdisciplinary, multimedia-based human rights journal.
I’m working with Alexander, Megan, and Lena to prepare this issue for release in February. The release will be announced on our website, as well as our Facebook and Twitter accounts.
This issue of the journal will feature playwright Nick Mwaluko as our Artist in Focus, as well as contributions in arts and academia from several other individuals. If you missed the submission deadline for this issue, you can always send your materials to journal@thegoodiscenter.org to be considered for the next issue.
There will be more news and updates in the near future, so keep an eye on Facebook, Twitter, thegoodiscenter.org, and our blog (thegoodiscenter.org/blog).
Suggestions for new content on our site, blog, social media accounts, and journal are always welcome, and can be submitted through the Contact Us form on our website.
Robert D. Goodis, Director
The Goodis Center for Research and Reform, LLC
30 Campus Road
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504
Phone: 845-206-9250
http://www.thegoodiscenter.org
*advancing and promoting human rights since 2009*