Report: Some mentally ill detainees deported were US citizens

Report: Some mentally ill detainees deported were US citizens

rawstory.com

Thousands of mentally disabled immigrants are entangled in deportation proceedings each year with little or no legal help, leaving them distraught, defenseless and detained as their fates are decided.

Their plight is detailed in a report issued Sunday by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union, who exhort federal authorities to do better.

Shortcomings outlined by the two groups include no right to appointed counsel, inflexible detention policies, insufficient guidance for

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This is incredible and absolutely maddening. As much as I'm against illegal immigration and for deportation of such aliens, I also believe that there should be no excuse for this what-so-ever, the deportation of mentally disabled US citizens. We should be looking out for our mentally disabled, not just trying to get rid of them or pawning them off on someone else.

Could you imagine a mentally disabled person all of the sudden being deported to a foreign country?

--airspoon

rawstory.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 26-7-2010 by airspoon]

I tried looking through the report and I don't see the evidence.

Alberto B. was one-and-a-half years old when his family moved to the United States from Portugal in 1967. He became a legal permanent resident, or “green card” holder, and grew up in Massachusetts with his parents and siblings, some of whom became US citizens. Alberto has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a mental impairment that causes severe
shifts in mood, energy, and ability to function. In a letter to Human Rights Watch, Alberto wrote: “I’ve been on psych meds since 2004, my guess. I finally turned myself in for help, FORGET MY PRIDE, I [knew] I had a problem. SINCE A very, very, young age…”1 In 2008, Alberto spent 50 days in an in-patient psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts and
was homeless after his release. Alberto claims that he lost his medication later that year, and was arrested for theft and trespassing a few days later.
Alberto’s criminal defense lawyer did not raise his client’s mental competence in court. Alberto agreed to a plea bargain, was released, and hopeful that a new attorney hired by his
family would be able to vacate the criminal charges against him. But in February 2009, immigration officers arrested Alberto for deportation because of his outstanding criminal convictions, and sent him to the Port Isabel Detention Center in Harlingen,south Texas.
Alberto had been held for approximately 11 months when a Human Rights Watch researcher met him. In a letter to us, he wrote:
[F]riends tell me just make a plea bargain with D.A. and get out of it. I didn’t know IT would add up to all of these [things]…being taking to Immigration Holding and brought all the way from mass to texas when I need my family’s moral support. Me needing my family moral support.2

In 2000, Sharon McKnight, a US citizen with cognitive disabilities, was arrested by immigration authorities returning to New York after visiting her family in Jamaica and deported through expedited removal procedures when immigration authorities suspected her passport was fraudulent.9
• In May 2007, Pedro Guzman, a 29-year-old US citizen with developmental disabilities, was apprehended by ICE at a county jail in California where he was serving a sentence for trespassing. He was deported to Mexico, where he was lost for almost three months before he was located and returned to his family in California.10
• In December 2008, US citizen Mark Lyttle, diagnosed with bipolar disorder and developmental disabilities, was deported to Mexico (and from there to Honduras and then Guatemala). It took four months for Lyttle to return to the US; ICE officials maintain that Lyttle signed a statement indicating he was a Mexican national.11
Human Rights Watch interviewed three individuals with then-unverified claims to US citizenship. Two men, Michael A. and Steve S., both claimed to be US citizens, and the government’s proof of alienage against each of them was uncertain and inconsistent.12 A third interviewee may have a valid claim for US citizenship according to his attorneys.13

www.hrw.org...

So theres 5 cases mentioned in the report but the news article states.

In the 2009 fiscal year, nearly 392,000 cases were processed in U.S. immigration courts — and Mehta said a conservative estimate is that 15 percent involved people with mental disabilities..

rawstory.com...

I smell BS.

I find this interesting to.

Name:In Loving Memory of Sarah MehtaCategory:Common Interest - FamiliesDescription:Sarah Mehta passed away on May 13, 2008.
This is just a group for her and ourselves, just to get everything out into the open, share your thoughts, feelings, and memories.
Privacy Type:Open: All content is public..

www.facebook.com...

An interview with a dead person?

The article quotes Sarah Mehta.

"No one knows what to do with detainees with mental disabilities, so every part of the immigration system has abdicated responsibility," said Sarah Mehta

rawstory.com...

Here is how I look at it: Why wouldn't it happen? It happens with just about everything else, I would be particularly surprised if this didn't happen. Think about it for a second, we have jails, hospitals, charities and every other institution that deals with these people on a regular basis, who are always trying to pawn these mentally disabled people off on someone else. It wouldn't be that much of a stretch to think that they are deporting them too.

Lets say "retarded joe" has broken the law, something like vandalism. Ij "retarded joe" doesn't speak english or can't speak properly and then says something stupid, as they tend to do often, like they live in Russia, Mexico, Canada, etc...

Lets say that didn't even say something stupid but still can't speak intelligibly, authorities are going to be brainstorming on what to do with this guy, especially if it's a small town/county. If no beds are open in the hospital or the process isn't moving fast enough, it would be so much easier to just claim they are illegal and have "bubba" the immigration judge deport them.

To me this is not only plausible, but ultimately inevitable.

--airspoon

Jeez, that is just horrible!!!!!!! I too am against illegal immigration and all, but there is no excuse for this kind of treatment for our mentally ill citizens. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

A lot of this happens because sometimes people that are picked up are sent to detention centers that are secret.

These centers make it difficult for family members or lawyers to locates the family members who were picked up.

Usually by the time they find out something, the person has already been deported.

There was a thread about these centers on ats but I can't seem to find it.

I agree, there is no evidence here of any of these people being U.S. citizens.

The article says,

The report, "Deportation by Default," documents cases of non-citizens who could not understand questions, were delusional, couldn't tell the date or time, and didn't understand the concept of deportation — for example, saying they wanted to be deported to New York.

What the Government needs to do is work with countries of suspected origin and find these peoples families and then deport them back into their families custody. There is no need to waste time, these peoples lives and tax payers dollars to keep them in detention. That is absurd.

[edit on 27-7-2010 by JohnPhoenix]

reply to post by JohnPhoenix


The important thing is that there is no evidence of them not being US citizens. A mentally disabled person could easily say they want to be deported to New York because for one, they may not understand the difference between the states and foreign countries. For example, if a mentall handicapped is from New York but is found in Los Angeles and authorities are asking him if he is a "citizen here", he may just say, "no, deport me back to New York".

Also, if there is one thing I have learned about human nature as of late, especially in government jobs, is that people try to find the easiest solution that will take the least amount of time. They are looking to clear cases from their desks and deporting a retarded person is much easier, and I'm sure quicker, than trying to solve a mystery.

Very rarely do people take on more work or a more complex issue without incentive to do so.

--airspoon

reply to post by airspoon


im just bi polar and that would drive me to rages of unimaginable levels this smacks of the eugenics movement and that scares me