Deported included citizens, legal residents.
By The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: A new American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) report by Human Rights Researcher Sarah Mehta puts a cloud on fair practice by the United States and its adhering to legalities when dealing with deportations. In fact, the report seems to suggest that the Department of Homeland Security seems to be behaving more like a dictator.
Mehta’s report points out that of the 438,421 people deported from the U.S. in 2013, about 83 percent did not have a hearing, never saw an immigration judge or were kicked out of the country by the same officer who made the arrest, reported NBC
Children, asylum seekers, longtime residents of the U.S. and people with lawful status, including citizens, were among those ejected from the country in this way, the ACLU found in interviews with individuals and attorneys and a review of cases.
Often, the deported were forced to sign forms they don’t understand, were threatened or lied to about their rights, the organization said.
“Deportation is not a time out. There are huge penalties … sometimes a life (ban from the country) without any opportunity to get that reviewed. It’s incredibly unfair not to provide the opportunity to protest that determination,” said Mehta, who authored the ACLU report: “American Exile: Rapid Deportations That Bypass The Courtroom.”
Release of the findings come just after President Barack Obama has used his executive powers to provide protection from deportation for three years to about 4 million individuals who have lived in the country five years and to beef up border enforcement that would, among other things, enhance apprehensions and removal of people who have more recently tried to enter the country illegally.
In response to the report, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Marsha Catron said, according to NBC, people in DHS custody “maintain important rights and due process protections throughout the course of their proceedings.”
“An individual may be removed from the U.S. only after any claims for relief from removal, including asylum, are fully evaluated,” she said.
Mehta, who has also worked as the detention fellow with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and as a staff attorney at the ACLU of Michigan, was for two years the Aryeh Neier fellow at Human Rights Watch and the ACLU’s Human Rights Program, focusing on the rights of people with mental disabilities in the U.S. immigration system.
Prior to law school, Mehta was a Fulbright scholar in India working on minority rights. She is a graduate of Brown University and Yale Law School.