Deaths in Immigration Detention Went Unreported

America's Voice Blog

Posted 08/18/09 at 02:15pm

Yet another reason many advocates are outraged with the current immigration enforcement system.

Today, the New York Times reports that one in every ten immigration detainee deaths goes unreported on the ICE "death roster," with the grisly death total now at 104 - a significant increase from the 90 that were reported to Congress in the Spring.

An investigation into the undisclosed detainee death situation was launched by the A.C.L.U after news of immigrant detainee, Tanveer Ahmad, a Pakistani taxi driver from NY, died in the detention system - a death that, according to the New York Times article, was difficult to confirm and speaks largely of the poor treatment, if any treatment at all, that these innocent detainees are handed; in fact, a fellow detainee said that Ahmad's symptoms of a heart attack "had gone untreated until too late."

David Shapiro, an attorney with the America Civil Liberties Union, remarks in today's Wall Street Journal:

"'Today's announcement confirms our very worst fears.'...He criticized the government for running a system 'devoid of transparency and accountability,' adding that Monday's announcement raised questions about whether other deaths occurred."

These shadowy facts, and these ten uncounted deaths, speak to the need for more that just a "revamping" of the current detention system, but a real overhaul of our nation's broken and unjust immigration policies.

Disturbing, to say the least.