The Detention Dilemma: Families, Security and Immigrant Rights

Thursday, February 23, 2012

The Obama administration has just announced a plan to allow some undocumented immigrants to apply for a green card without having to return to their home country. The proposal is widely seen as an effort to reduce the forced separation of immigrant families. Last year the administration announced it would shift its deportation focus away from undocumented DREAM-eligible youth, military family members, crime victims, and immigrants with strong family ties.

Even as these new policies respond to widespread criticism of the administration’s immigration enforcement policies and practices, recent reports draw attention to the continuing expansion and privatization of immigrant detention centers and the violation of immigrants’ rights throughout the process of detention and deportation. What is the impact on individuals who spend months or years in detention, and their families? How are immigrant communities in New York affected by detention practices? Can the detention system do a better job of balancing the country’s core values as a nation of immigrants and promoter of human rights with concerns regarding the enforcement of existing laws and enhancing border security?

Listen to the podcast.

WITH:
Maria Hinojosa, of the FRONTLINE documentary Lost in Detention; President & CEO, Futuro Media Group
Valeria Fernández, Journalist, Feet in Two Worlds
Amy Gottlieb, Attorney and Program Director of the Immigrant Rights Program at the American Friends Service Committee
Jackie Vimo, Director of Advocacy, New York Immigration Council

MODERATOR:
John Rudolph, Executive Director, Feet in Two Worlds

The event is co-sponsored by Feet in Two Worlds; the Global Studies Program; the Global Migration Group; and the International Center for Migration, Ethnicity, and Citizenship.