Archive for the ‘Domestic Policy’ Category
The obvious fix to an "asylum industry" that allows con artists and misguided amateur representatives to prosper is to lift the bar on court-appointed legal representatives and give asylum seekers the same rights to legal representation that criminal suspects enjoy.
Dear President Obama:
We were among the many Americans who strongly supported your executive order prohibiting American personnel from using torture. As you said when you issued the executive order in January 2009 and again at the National Archives in May 2009, torture is inconsistent with our laws and our values and counterproductive as a matter of national security policy.
When it comes to its immigration courts, the United States needs to invest in protecting human rights.
Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to submit a statement for today’s hearing on improving efficiency and ensuring justice in the immigration court system.
American moms will be getting generous gifts on Mother’s Day: the National Retail Federation estimates that in 2011 the average American will spend $141 on Mother’s Day gifts, with total spending of about $16.3 billion.
The United States Congress has failed to reform the "broken" immigration system, and states have been attempting to fill the vacuum with their own immigration enforcement bills. One of the first efforts by states to regulate immigration was the passage of Proposition 187 in California in 1994.
Janet Napolitano
Secretary of Homeland Security
US Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
Re: ICE review of detainee transfer policy
Dear Secretary Napolitano:
(New York) – Millions of US workers – including parents of infants – are harmed by weak or nonexistent laws on paid leave, breastfeeding accommodation, and discrimination against workers with family responsibilities, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Workers face grave health, financial, and career repercussions as a result.
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Re: Exclusion of Immigration Detention Facilities from Proposed PREA Standards
Dear President Obama:
"I hung the live birds on the line," Luis said, holding out his swollen, clawlike hands. "Grab, reach, lift, jerk. Without stopping, for hours every day. Only young, strong guys can do it. But after a time, you see what happens. Your arms stick out and your hands are frozen. Look at me now. I’m 22 years old, and I feel like an old man."
Esther Brimmer
Assistant Secretary, International Organization Affairs
Harold Hongju Koh
Legal Adviser, Office of the Legal Advisor
Michael H. Posner
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
United States Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear President Cullerton, Senator Radogno, Speaker Madigan, and Representative Cross:
With the enactment of the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 ("PREA"), Congress simultaneously acknowledged the significance of sexual abuse by staff and prisoners in correctional facilities as well as the duty of public officials to protect incarcerated individuals from it.[1] Among other provisions, PREA authorized the creation of