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Minnesota Advocates Testifies at Congressional Briefing on Medical Treatment at Immigration Detention Centers
7/10/2007 9:59 AM
In a briefing sponsored by Congressman Keith Ellison (MN-5th) on July 9, 2007, experts testified about severe problems with health care delivery to people detained in immigration custody. Recent articles in the New York Times and Washington Post have unveiled inadequacies regarding the medical treatment immigrant detainees receive while held by the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The New York Times article reveals that at least 62 people have died while in ICE custody since 2004. The Washington Post article details extreme failures in medical treatment that resulted in death and serious disfigurement.
A January report by the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that four out of five immigration detention facilities in its study had significant failures in providing health care. Panelists included Allen S. Keller, M.D., Director, Bellevue/N.Y.U. Program for Survivors of Torture, June Everett, sister of Sandra Kenley who died in ICE custody, Tom Jawetz, Immigration Detention Staff Attorney, ACLU National Prison Project, and Michele Garnett McKenzie, Refugee and Immigrant Program Director, Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights.
Click here for links to the testimony.
Click here to read the Washington Post's June 13, 2007, detailing problems with delivery of health care to immigration detainees.
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