One of the main issues seems to revolve around immigration detention. What this means is that while awaiting their sentence, immigrants can be detained for an unlimited amount of time, but because this law was so outrageous, immigrants have protested on it and a recent court case may change it. So what is the Current state of Immigrants in the US legal system?
The United States spends around 5,5 million dollars per day on immigration detention which amounts to many billions of dollars on a yearly basis. More and more immigrants seem to be detained in the USA and at the same time they are also deprived of due process, making many individuals wait even for years until they can get justice in court. There are also many immigrants who are disabled or suffer from certain disabilities and they cannot understand the proceedings against them and cannot come up with a strategy to defend themselves in court. Even though some of them are living in the US legally, they will eventually be deported anyway.
Talking about immigration detention is a bit hard without taking a good look at the number of anti immigrant laws that have been ratified in the country. For instance, each of the fifty states considered immigration related measures this year. Those measures increased criminalization very fast for every immigration in the country which eventually led to a need for more beds, whereas the detention centers are already crowded. What actually happened is that many states in the country put a lot of cash into the already heavy pockets of prison privatization corporations.
Immigrants will all have to go through a minimum justice system which is generally a joke, because it’s racist and classis and it ensures the ones accused of whatever the system finds them guilty for, will go to prison. On paper, many immigrants now filling up the prisons have been given the chance of going to court with their case, but the trials are just unfair and it’s undeniable that the system needs a reform and it needs it fast.
In what regards detention, immigrants are held in prisons based only on suspicion and they haven’t committed any crimes. It’s something that differs compared to jailing, in that detaining an immigrant can be for an indefinite amount of time, until the person will need to go to trial.
When it comes to the conditions in these detention centers, they are not great at all and are generally inhospitable and not healthy. Due to the stress of the confinement and the overcrowding of the centers, experiencing mental problems and contracting a communicable disease is very high. On top of that, even if family members will want to visit the detainees, they might be accused of staying in the country illegally, even though they have papers to prove otherwise. If things don’t change soon in the immigration laws, the US will be unable to provide even the most basic of services in these centers.