U.S. Bars U.N. Observer from Visit to Immigrant Detention Center

From: ACLU E-Newsletter, Texas Challenge to Religion in Schools, DOJ NSA Revelations and More, May 18th, 2007

This month, United Nations Special Rapporteur Dr. Jorge Bustamante is conducting a three-week fact-finding mission in the United States.

As Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, Dr. Bustamante is reviewing the treatment of migrants and immigrants at border facilities and detention centers and meeting with human rights and immigrants’ groups from Arizona to New Jersey.

But midway through Dr. Bustamante’s visit, U.S. officials barred his access to one scheduled stop, the Hutto immigrant detention facility in Taylor, Texas. The ACLU represents 12 children detained at Hutto, in a challenge charging that they are subject to inhumane treatment. The tour of Hutto a converted prison holding about 400 immigrants, including children and asylum seekers was considered a major part of the Special Rapporteur's U.S. visit.

According to the official terms for fact-finding missions, as an independent expert appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur must have “access to all prisons, detention centers and places of interrogation.” The terms also mandate that the Rapporteur be given confidential and unsupervised contact with witnesses and potential victims of human rights violations. A letter has been sent to the U.S. State Department and the Department of Homeland Security seeking answers on why the Hutto facility tour was cancelled. To learn more about the Special Rapporteur and the rights of immigrants, and to follow Dr. Bustamante’s U.S. travel activities on the ACLU’s blog, go to: blog.aclu.org/index.php?/categories/13-Immigrants-Rights