A NY Times article spotlights the death of an immigrant man in a federal detention center. Like many immigrant detention centers, the place where Tanveer Ahmad died is a cruel place where the most dangerous of criminals were kept. Mr. Ahmad died of a cardiac arrest after repeatedly being refused medical attention. The longer we as a populace continue to allow crimes like these, like the Japanese detention camps during WWII, the more we will be culpable in violating the rights of so many people.
Piecing Together an Immigrant’s Life the U.S. Refused to See – NYTimes.com
By the time Mr. Ahmad was taken in handcuffs to immigration court on Aug. 17, 2005, all he wanted was to return to Pakistan. He insisted on giving up his right to contest deportation, even though he faced a 10-year bar on returning, said Kenneth M. Schonfeld, an immigration lawyer hurriedly hired by Mr. Ahmad’s friends, all cabdrivers from Pakistan.
“He couldn’t stand the thought of having to stay in custody,” the lawyer said, and he seemed “really terrified” of the Monmouth jail. “It’s a place that would frighten or depress anyone.”
If you feel as strongly as I do about this as I do, please check out the blog dedicated to closing T. Don Hutto Family Detention Center as well as Grassroots Leadership, a group trying to end immigrant family detention.
Chronicle of Higher Education