News Round Up In-Brief

U.S. News

• Government records show that two-thirds of the people deported under the Obama administration had committed only minor offenses, contrary to the president’s claim that Immigration and Customs Enforcement prioritizes removing serious criminals (more commentary here and here). Rather than simply deporting them, the administration has chosen to file formal charges of “illegal entry” in 90 percent of cases against people without any previous criminal record, which threatens those caught returning illegally with prison time. However, over the course of Obama’s tenure since 2009, new deportation cases brought by his administration have decreased, albeit not at a rate pleasing to immigrant advocates.
• The New York Times Editorial Board is calling on President Obama to turn his attention away from immigration legislation and finally take executive action to halt deportations of non-criminal immigrants, a recourse the board says is inevitable.

News Round Up In-Brief

U.S. News

• In its periodic review of U.S. compliance with the ICCPR, the UN Human Rights Committee called on the federal government to facilitate access to health care, especially reproductive care, among undocumented immigrants.
• An immigrant rights coalition is calling for a congressional investigation of inhumane detention practices at Georgia’s Stewart and Irwin county detention facilities, following a 2012 ACLU report.
• Hundreds of immigrant detainees at the Joe Corley Detention Center in Conroe, Texas launched a hunger strike on March 18, one of several recent strikes (e.g. Northwest Detention Center) to protest federal deportation practices.