Refugees Seeking Asylum Suffer Behind Bars:
Groundbreaking Medical Study Documents Harm Suffered by Detained Asylum Seekers

NEW YORK - Refugees seeking asylum in the U.S. who are placed in jail-like detention centers suffer a myriad of physical and mental consequences, according to a report released today by Physicians for Human Rights and the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture. The report, “From Persecution to Prison: The Health Consequences of Detention for Asylum Seekers” presents the findings of the first systematic study of the physical and mental health of detained asylum seekers.

“This is a truly groundbreaking report. It is the most comprehensive medical report to be issued on the detention of asylum seekers, and confirms what we have long known: detaining asylum seekers who have already survived torture, rape, imprisonment, or other persecution is wrong and harmful,” said Eleanor Acer, Director of the Asylum Program at the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. “America should not be treating refugees like criminals.”

Under a draconian immigration law passed in 1996 and policies which have become ever more restrictive since September 11, 2001, asylum seekers arriving in the U.S. are subject to an “expedited removal” process in which they are automatically detained and rarely granted parole. The mental and physical health of many detainees suffers during this period of detention, which often lasts months if not years.

The report confirms:

• In case after case, the government’s practice of imprisoning asylum seekers inflicts further harm on an already traumatized population;
• Detained asylum seekers suffer extremely high levels of anxiety, depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. 86% of the interviewed asylum seekers suffered significant depression, 77% suffered anxiety and 50% suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder;
• The already poor psychological health of asylum seekers worsens the longer that they are detained;
• Asylum seekers suffer verbal abuse by immigration inspectors at U.S. airports, as well as verbal abuse and other mistreatment at the hands of officers staffing detention facilities.

In connection with the report, medical physicians experienced in working with asylum seekers interviewed 70 asylum seekers who were detained in detention facilities and jails in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The majority of the detained asylum seekers who were interviewed - 77% - came from African countries. The median length of detention at the time the asylum seekers were interviewed was 4.7 months - with periods of detention ranging from 1 month to 4 and ½ years at the time of interview. For the 40 individuals who had been granted asylum (4 received other forms of protection, 14 had been denied asylum and 12 cases were still pending), the median length of detention was 7 months - with detention periods ranging from 2 months to 3 and ½ years.

Jean Pierre Kamwa, a torture survivor who was detained in the U.S. for 5 months before he was granted asylum with the help of the Lawyers Committee, now works as a counselor for refugees and asylum seekers. “These detainees have, like I had when I arrived in the U.S., already been deeply affected by what happened to them before they left their homes,” Kamwa said. “Now they are in a windowless detention center with no fresh air. They don’t know what will happen to them, if they will be deported, or if they will be allowed to remain. They become more and more depressed, sometimes they attempt suicide.”

While this study was conducted in the U.S., the report’s findings are highly relevant to other countries that detain asylum seekers. U.S. detention practices - which provide for mandatory detention and no court review of detention - are however particularly egregious, and are in clear violation of international standards. (The Lawyers Committee has conducted a comprehensive survey of the detention practices of countries around the world.)

When an asylum seeker’s parole request is denied in the U.S., he or she cannot appeal that decision to a court or even to an immigration judge. “The INS - and now the DHS - is basically judge and jailor when it comes to deciding whether an individual asylum seeker can be paroled from jail,” said Acer. Even asylum seekers who meet the parole criteria are denied parole by DHS. “This system, which was already so unfair, has become even more so with the transfer from INS to the new Department of Homeland Security.”

Recommendations:

The Lawyers Committee joins Physicians for Human Rights and the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture in calling for thorough reform to the U.S. asylum detention system. In particular, LCHR urges that the Department of Homeland Security, the Administration and the U.S. Congress:

• Detention and Parole Determinations: End the U.S. policy of mandatory detention without an individualized assessment of the need for detention, and ensure that asylum seekers who meet fair parole criteria and present no danger to the community are released from detention. Those who are denied parole should be able to have the need for their continued detention assessed in a hearing before an immigration judge.
• Alternatives to Detention: Implement and ensure adequate funding for alternatives to detention, which have been demonstrated to be less costly than detention. DHS and relevant bureaus should promptly implement nationwide alternatives to detention, such as supervised release programs.
• Oversight Mechanisms: Create concrete oversight mechanisms at high levels within DHS to ensure that asylum seekers and refugees are treated in accordance with U.S. obligations under domestic and international law, and to ensure that asylum seekers are provided with fair procedures for seeking parole. This need is even more crucial within DHS, since the bureaus of DHS that detain asylum seekers at airports, borders, detention facilities and jails - the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE) and the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (BCBP) - are now separated from the divisions with asylum expertise which are now housed within the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS).

Visit the Physicians for Human Rights website for the full text of the report.

Many of the individuals who participated in the study are clients of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights and its volunteer pro bono lawyers.