In a scathing new report on civil rights abuses at immigration detention facilities, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights cites an article by Professor Anil Kalhan that appeared in the Columbia Law Review Sidebar.
The commission released its report, “With Liberty and Justice for All,” to President Obama and Congress on Sept. 17. The report found that some immigration detention facilities have failed to comply with standards regarding the provision of medical care, legal information and others intended to promote humane treatment of detainees.
The report also found that the Department of Homeland Security has not consistently honored detainees’ civil and due process rights and fails to protect them adequately from sexual assault and abuse.
Commission Chairman Martin R. Castro’s remarks cite Kalhan’s 2010 article, “Rethinking Immigration Detention,” which explores the increasingly blurred lines between immigrant detention and incarceration.
A chapter in the 500-page report focusing on declining standards in immigration detention facilities and the rise of private companies in operating detention centers separately refers to Kalhan’s article.
The article had been previously cited by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, which in May vacated and remanded the sentence of a man who had been held in both state custody and immigration detention before being charged with illegally re-entering the country.