Rapid-Fire Deportations Threaten Rights and Well-Being of Families and Kids Detained in New Mexico

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: 212-549-2666, media@aclu.org

WASHINGTON – Today, media reports emerged that quote an immigration enforcement official saying that the government would attempt to process the immigrants soon to be detained at Artesia, New Mexico and “have them deported within 10 to 15 days to send a message back to their home countries that there are consequences for illegal immigration.”

Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, had this comment:

“Many children crossing the border are seeking refugee protection from violence in their home countries. Both due process and international law require that these kids’ claims be fully and fairly assessed by immigration judges, not dismissed in assembly-line hearings. The approach announced today threatens to deprive vulnerable children of the legal protection due to them while placing them in family detention, which has a recent history of brutality, including prison-like conditions and sexual abuse. Video hearings conducted remotely and in haste are incompatible with full and fair adjudication of immigration cases. Basic fairness requires that each child has a lawyer to assist in these life-or-death determinations.”