Immigrants Detention Healthcare Problem Paper based on one paper write 8 source evaluations, and find 6 sources about immigrants detention healthcare probl
Immigrants Detention Healthcare Problem Paper based on one paper write 8 source evaluations, and find 6 sources about immigrants detention healthcare problem(there will be a 1400 words paper help ) each evaluations need around 200 words Li 1
Yuntong li
59227639
39c
5/25/2019
US immigrants have been suffering from medical issues when they are placed in the
detention centers. The issues include aspects of discrimination and mistreatment that are done to
the immigrants. These centers have been blamed for a number of negative factors such as lack of
quality care or even enough care practitioners who serve at the places. The major affected groups
of people are the women and the young people who suffer the largest hurt due to the situation.
Women get to visit the medical centers more and even suffer from higher rates of mental
problems in comparison with the men. Further shocking statistics relate to the aspect that more of
the youth suffer from such issues when compared with the older adults. Having established the
negative aspects of the situation, it is critical to outline that strong policies that uphold the
wellbeing of the detainees need to be implemented within the nation.
After giving a comprehensive description of the problems that are faced, providing
relevant solutions constitutes the ultimate step of the whole procedure. There are mainly three
policies that are going to be proposed. That includes the Detainee Basic Medical Treatment Act
of 2008 that was proposed by the US Senator Robert Menendez (Mooty 223). Also, there needs
to be an act that improves access to the needed legal counsel and fair procedures as brought
about during the Obama era. In addition, policies are required that will focus on decreasing the
detention rates rather than cause an increase in the same through use of alternatives. The policies
above are going to be evaluated in the section below to have an in-depth understanding as to how
they create efficiency to the situation.
The Detainee Basic Medical Treatment Act of 2008 ensures significant change in the
manner that medical staff gets to provide the care services to the detainees through the various
steps like conduct of initial examinations and regular reports of detainees deaths. The act
requires that the following three tenets are incorporated as part of attaining the recommendations
provided. First and foremost relates to the need for the Secretary of Homeland Security to set in
place procedures that would ensure timely and effective transmission of the medical and mental
health care to all the immigration detainees who are placed in custody (Mooty 223). The act
compels the centers to provide the initial examination to the detainees and a continuation of the
prescribed medications.
Secondly, the act applies to all detention centers where the detainees are placed for a
period that exceeds seventy-two hours. The detainee who suffers from mental health issues gets
to receive priority in being released on parole or on bond (Mooty 225). Those not released
initially should have regular reevaluations done on them. The last aspect relates to the need for
transparency and general oversight to be applied. The act compels the centers to give the
detainees the medical records when they need them and whenever they get transferred to other
centers. The homeland security docket is required to give fast response to the calls for the
immigration detainee to be treated in the situation they complain of medical or mental health
problems (Mooty 226). The facilities are required to provide reports of deaths to the relevant
authorities such as the inspector general and department of justice. The annual reports on deaths
should be provided to the legislators too.
Also, another act includes that of improving the access to legal counsel and fair
procedures as proposed during the Obama administration. The act requires the end of use of
detention facilities placed in remote locations that hamper the access to legal help and the state to
play a role in supporting the funding needed for legal actions in the immigration cases, mostly
for vulnerable persons (Martinez et al 1314). Based on the use of the cost-benefit analysis to
evaluate the effectiveness of the policies chosen, it has been established that the act has more
gains for the detainees than the amount of costs that are to be paid. Due to promotion of aspects
of equity under the law, it gives the detainees a good chance of overcoming the legal barriers or
other negative situations such as discriminative acts. Justice is an important tenet of the state that
should be promoted at all times even against the outsiders. The disadvantage of using the act can
be linked to the lack of good representation of the detainees by the selected lawyers since they
tend to be less motivated about seeking justice for the detainees.
The final solution as brought up by Ohta and Clara (117) that would work in the most
effective manner relates to the decrease in detention rather than a scaling up through the use of
proven alternatives to finding a long-lasting solution to the situation. As proposed by Human
Rights Watch, there is the increased demand to have robust health, safety and human rights
standards for all types of immigration detention centers. Also, there is the need to monitor and be
engaged in strong oversight of the numerous detention centers through increased requests for
data, hearings and the investigations to be conducted. The policy to be adopted includes the
Family Case Management Program (FCMP) that had about 630-assylum seekers in the year 2017
(Ohta and Clara 117).
FCMP relates to the use of case managers during situations of enhancing compliance
with the legal obligations by the various detainees as they are undergoing the immigration
proceedings. The act requires that case managers ensure that the detainees are able to check-in
with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), attend the immigration court hearings
and comply with the removal orders so as to ensure the individuals are able to stay with their
various families and communities (La Corte). The alternative proposed above is a more positive
approach since it provides for a cheaper method of holding the detainees rather than the
detention or specifically the family kind of detention. However, the model encounters a number
of challenges that make its success to be hampered. That includes the huge nature of asylum
backlogs that drive up the costs and a lack of the required amount of administrative support to
achieve the required levels of success.
Having stated the possible solutions and done a broad look at the principles and tenets of
the policies, the Detainee Basic Medical Treatment Act of 2008 constitutes the best solution to
be adopted. First and foremost relates to the fact that it assures the timely and effective provision
of medical and mental care to all the immigration detainees. There has been need to avoid the
delay and discrimination in the provision of such services. Also, the act applies to all detention
centers where the detainees are placed for a period that exceeds seventy-two hours. The detainee
who suffers from mental health issues gets to receive priority in being released on parole or on
bond (Mooty 225).
Those not released initially should have regular reevaluations done on them. Finally, it
makes application of the aspects of transparency and general oversight at the centers. The act
compels the centers to give the detainees the medical records when they need them and
whenever they get transferred to other centers. The homeland security docket is required to give
fast response to the calls for the immigration detainee to be treated in the situation they complain
of medical or mental health problems (Mooty 226). The facilities are required to provide reports
of deaths to the relevant authorities such as the inspector general and department of justice. The
annual reports on deaths should be provided to the legislators too.
The act has some negative aspects such as the discovery that achieving the purpose may
be difficult since some of its sections borrow from the policies by Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) detention operations manual without the exact language to fix the identified
set of issues (Mooty 240). In addition, the act has been blamed for failure to incorporate
numerous provisions that are equally missing in the detention operations manual. The limitations
explained above show the insufficient areas that the act has not dealt with and that needs more
improvements to ensure more positive results can be enjoyed.
Due to its effectiveness and feasibility in providing universal coverage for the detainees
at the various centers, the policy provides the most effective solution to the healthcare issues that
are identified. Therefore, despite the growing need to have safe borders, the inhumane treatment
of the immigrants at detention centers raises eyebrows and requires better steps and alternative to
be implemented.
Works Cited:
La Corte, Matthew. Restore the Family Case Management Program for asylum seekers. (2019,
April 17). Available at https://niskanencenter.org/blog/restore-the-family-casemanagement-program-for-asylum-seekers/
Martinez-Donate, Ana P., et al. “Access to health care among Mexican migrants and immigrants:
a comparison across migration phases.” Journal of health care for the poor and
underserved 28.4 (2017): 1314.
Mooty, Brianna M. “Solving the Medical Crisis for Immigration Detainees: Is the Proposed
Detainee Basic Medical Care Act of 2008 the Answer.” Law & Ineq. 28 (2010): 223-227.
Ohta, Rie, and Clara Long. “How Should Health Professionals and Policy Makers Respond to
Substandard Care of Detained Immigrants?.” AMA journal of ethics 21.1 (2019): 113118.
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Detention and Healthcare
The health care system in the immigration detention centers in the United States is the
largest in the world and a socioeconomic challenge among the detainees and the tax payers.
Immigrants in various detention centers in nearly every state of the United States continue to
experience prison-like conditions for close to 24 hours. The cities and counties that contract
or engage the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) demonstrate very little or no
oversight of the detention centers in a particular prefecture. As demonstrated by this research,
healthcare among the immigrants in the detention centers is not only in a dilapidated but a
major social problem. It is notable that most of the detainees end up developing mental
disorders among other health concerns. This paper examines the impacts of the detention
centers with regard to health of the immigrant detainees. Should the United States consider
enhancing oversight of the immigrant detention facilities to ensure that the immigrants do not
experience criminalization, discrimination and mistreatments to permit considerable
healthcare?
The international standards provides for equal healthcare for both the detainees and
the other community members. Nonetheless, the policy of the immigration authorities focuses
on just the emergency issues. The off-site medical concerns policy permits non-emergency
attention only in cases where lack of intervention would lead to uncontrolled suffering or the
deterioration of the health of the detainee influences his or her deportation status. It is
notable that this policy exists together with other detention standards including the recently
revised policies to permit detailed healthcare requirements among the detention centers.
However, some of the proposed immigration policies will increase the vulnerability among
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the detainees and thus the protests over the policies.
Source: National Immigrant Justice Center (Cullen 8)
According to Mendoza (2015), the recent revisions on the detention policies by the
immigration agencies are critical and significant but the effectiveness of the detention
facilities not only the enhancement of the policies but also clear and effective oversight
strategies and approaches. It is notable that the experienced challenges in the detention
facilities affect both men and women but the efforts to fix the challenges need scrutiny of the
requirements for each gender and more to determine the special needs among the women.
According to the statement by Californian State attorney General, Becerra Xavier as
well as from Elaine Howle, the states auditor, the records of unwarranted healthcare as well
as mental health intervention endangers the safety and overall health of the detained
immigrants. A recent survey establishes that accessing immigration detention centers is not
only difficult but increases the chances of contracting diseases and that the channels of
getting information are bureaucratic and complex as well as lack of clarity. Nonetheless, it is
notable that a significant population of the female detainees is sexually harassed but the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement hardly report or realize such assaults. Through the
harassments, the detainees continue to become vulnerable of diseases such as HIV/AIDS
among other sexually transmitted diseases (Morey 461). The conditions in the detention
centers increase the chances of mental disorders and anxieties amongst the detainees. For
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instance, CDC records over 10 cases of the mental illnesses in different immigrant detention
centers around the United States in the last quarter of 2018. In fact, the research shows that
the number of mental and other health concerns among the detainees continues to increase
each day. Additionally, the conditions in the immigrants detention centers continue to
worsen.
For example, the 2016 report by the Immigrants and Customs Enforcement agency
stated that its investigations confirmed that between the months of May 2012 and June 2015,
at least 21 immigrants died while in the detention centers mainly because of the deplorable
health conditions that caused serious illnesses. The Community Initiatives and for Visiting
Immigrants in Conference (CIVIC) and the Human Rights Watch sought for an independent
health experts to conduct an evaluation of the various reports by different agencies with the
view to gain full insight of the conditions in the U.S immigrants detention facilities.
It is notable that the ICE largely depends on the local government contracts primarily
for the detention space, states have critical role towards improving the detention conditions as
well as the medical care in the facilities from a general perspective ((Teplin et al. 33).
Although the recent immigrant detention policies are good for the immigrants, the conditions
are far from the expected or the standard conditions from a global perspective. For instance,
in 2016, the state of California passed that recognized the constitutional provisions
concerning a detainee. According to the constitution of the United States as well as the
international law, an incarcerated or detained person is entitled to sufficient medical care. In
fact, the law provides for equal intervention for a detainee and any other community member
(O’Hara 329 ). As such, the federal government has the obligation to ensure that all the
immigrant detainees receive humanely treatment and accorded dignity by appropriating
sufficient medical care and funding towards meeting the healthcare costs.
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According to the observations by Becerra Xavier, the Californian state attorney
general, and Howle Elaine, the states auditor, the current records of the shoddy healthcare as
well as the metal treatment endangers the safety and health of the immigrant detainees
(Knight 2). Additionally, Knight (2019) examines that most of the migrants can hardly access
their lawyers and family as they await for the deportation orders or the civil immigration
hearings.
While blaming the ICE and the local governments, Howle argues that the lax
oversight permits critical safety and health violations that make the immigrants more
vulnerable to the diseases and other social problems. For instance, because of the lack of
transparency among the local government agencies and the ICE, it is hard for the detainees to
free express their views or concerns to the relevant authorities (Teplin et al. 19). From this
lens, ICE as a government agency must demonstrate transparency for the realization of
enhanced conditions for the immigrants in the detention facilities. Notably, the auditor
expresses disappointment to the extent that the local governments are unable to provide
credible oversight of the funds and the functions of the detention facilities (Wood 23). The
running of the facilities is left majorly to the private entities that have gained powers to
mistreat immigrants to the extent of leaving them in prison-lime conditions.
Source: National Immigrant Justice Center (Cullen 5)
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Drawn from a single day visit to seven different detention centers among other
investigations from different detention facilities, the Becerras report found that most of the
facilities lack sufficient healthcare professionals while the professionals in the centers
experience burn outs quite frequently because of lack of free time or rests (Casturo 825). As
such, the professionals may not provide the expected healthcare intervention. Additionally,
the medical care in the facilities demand enhanced equipment for faster diagnostics and
treatment for the detainees. Because of increased levels of mental pressure that end up
causing mental disorders, at least ten teens attempted suicide at Yolo County Juvenile
Detention Center where others cut themselves (Bosworth 13). The figure below demonstrates
the trend of detention population since 1994 to date.
Source: Center for Migration Studies (Moinester 1150)
As observed, the immigrant detention facilities have continually posed health risks
among a sizable population among the immigrants be. Usually, the detainees stay up to 22
hours locked up in the detention facilities where they lack access to their attorney and
parents. Unlike most of the counties, Yolo County engages the Federal Office of Refugee
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Resettlement (Aalsma et al. 1375). However, many counties contract the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement agency. One of the clear pointer of the lax oversight is the fact that
many counties and cities do not have the knowledge of the sufferings the immigrants undergo
in the detention centers. According to Howle, cities such as Holtville, Adelanto and
McFarland failed to enhance the inspection schedules for the detention facilities run by the
private contractors especially with the unveiling of safety risks and unwarranted health
conditions in the facilities by the federal government.
A recent inspection of the detention facilities demonstrated at least three suicide
attempts and one suicide at the Adelanto center. The report also reflected insufficient cursory
medical assessments as well as lack of dental care (Bosworth 30). While the deliberations on
the creation of legislative fix to the immigrants detention facilities are in progress, counties
and cities should not just wait for the policies but should creatively and innovatively establish
ways of dealing with the problem at hand and ensure that the detainees receive humane
treatment and also increase the number of medical practitioners and the equipment.
According to the Supreme Court ruling on the case of Preap v. Nielsent, the ICE
agencies have the powers to arrest persons without US citizenship and detain them even for
years depending on various factors especially their previous convictions. The court also ruled
that different circumstances may render the court not to grant a bond to some detainees.
However, the detainees have the right to improved health care conditions and access to an
attorney as well as their families.
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Works Cited
Aalsma, Matthew C., et al. “Behavioral health care needs, detention-based care, and criminal
recidivism at community reentry from juvenile detention: A multisite survival curve
analysis.” American journal of public health 105.7 (2015): 1372-1378.
Bosworth, Mary. “The impact of…
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