On World Refugee Day, HRF urges the U.S. to improve our treatment of refugees

Today, June 20, is World Refugee Day.

In observance of this day, the group Human Rights First (HRF) is urging the U.S. to strengthen its commitment to refugees, reevaluate current refugee protection policies, and end refugee detention policies that are inconsistent with international human rights standards.

While the issue never seems to make headlines in the mainstream media, we in the human rights community have long been aware of how harshly refugees and asylum seekers are treated when they seek protection in this country.

Accordingly, Eleanor Acer, director of HRF's refugee protection program, issued the following statement:

"It is ironic that here in the United States -- a country that has done so much to help refugees overseas -- asylum seekers who have sought refuge from political, religious and other persecution will spend World Refugee Day detained in prison-like facilities. Though the United States has certainly helped countless numbers of refugees, U.S. detention policies have made our nation a far less 'welcoming' place for those seeking this country’s protection from persecution and danger.

"World Refugee Day presents an opportunity for the Obama administration to commit to taking immediate steps to protect the rights of refugees -- including those who are here in this country. The United States should set the global standard for how refugees will be treated. When the United States falters in its protection obligations here at home, refugees worldwide suffer."

Indeed.

Acer's statements follow a recently issued HRF report titled U.S. Detention of Asylum Seekers: Seeking Protection, Finding Prison. The report describes how U.S. detention of refugees and asylum seekers is inconsistent with international human rights standards.

Since 2003, the report notes, the U.S. has spent more than $300 million to detain over 48,000 innocent asylum seekers in jails and jail-like facilities, often without legal representation. This is how we treat human beings in need, who are fleeing wars and/or persecution in their home countries.

The report highlights ways in which the Obama administration can improve the process "in ways that are more cost-effective, just, and humane."

HRF's recommendations include the following:

• Stop detaining asylum seekers in prison-like facilities.

• Provide all detained asylum seekers with the safeguard of an immigration court custody hearing.

• Revise overly broad immigration definitions in order to target actual terrorism (rather than the victims of violence and repression) and implement a more effective process to adjudicate exemptions.

HRF also calls on the U.S. to "continue to lead efforts to ensure protection and assistance for Iraq's refugees and displaced, as well as resettling vulnerable Iraqi refugees -- including those who are at risk because of their ties to the United States."

As I think about this, I am reminded of the inscription on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. It proclaims:

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me."

And then we throw them in prison, even though they are innocent of any wrongdoing.

God bless America.

>> Read the full HRF report.

>> Read a summary version of the report.

>> Take action: Tell the Department of Homeland Security to improve the treatment of asylum seekers immediately.