Volker Türk recalls that numerous immigration policies continue to generate arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions and unjustified expulsions
The High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned on Friday, January 23, “the dehumanization and harmful treatment” of migrants and refugees in the United States.
In a statement, Volker Türk urged Washington to respect human dignity and the right to due process, end scapegoating tactics, and combat xenophobic hostility and abuses, now common, against these vulnerable populations.
“People are being watched and detainedsometimes violently, including in hospitals, churches, mosques, courts, markets and schools, and even within their own homes, often solely on the basis of the mere suspicion of being in an irregular immigration situation,” declared the head of the UN responsible for ensuring fundamental rights.
“Children miss school and pediatrician appointments for fear of never seeing their parents again,” he added.
Defense of migrants
Despite these abuses, the High Commissioner underscored the commitment of numerous actors in the United States to defend the dignity and rights of migrants, particularly a multitude of officials, community groups and civil society representatives across the country, members of Congress, judges, local and regional officials, lawyers, members of the clergy, service providers, advocates and ordinary citizens.
However, Volker Türk recalls that numerous immigration policies continue to generate arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions and unjustified expulsions.
Demonizing migrants and refugees is inhumane
The High Commissioner also expressed deep concern about the harmful and dehumanizing narratives that are often used to describe migrants and refugees.
“Collectively demonizing migrants and refugees as criminals or threats or a burden on society, based on their origin, nationality or immigration status, is inhumane, wrong and goes against the very social fabric and the founding principles of the nation,” Türk added.
This translates concretely into arrests and detentions without quick access to a lawyer or effective remedies.
Türk stressed that numerous arrests, detentions and expulsions take place without efforts being made to evaluate and preserve the family unit, exposing children in particular to risks of serious and long-lasting harm.
Transparency about deaths in detention
Repeated cases of parents being detained and transferred from one detention center to another, without adequate information about their location or access to a lawyer, also hamper their ability to stay in touch with their family and legal representatives.
The UN human rights chief also called for an independent and transparent investigation into “the worrying increase in the number of deaths in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.” At least 30 such deaths were recorded last year, and another six have been recorded so far this year.
On the other hand, Türk noted that some expulsions, particularly to countries other than their country of origin or with which these people have no ties, were carried out hastily, without taking into account the risks of torture or irreparable harm. Authorities have also acknowledged mistakes, having wrongly expelled people from the United States. These cases underscore the need to strengthen guarantees, he said.
With information from the United Nations
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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