http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/campaign/asy_prisions?rk=spX8aDdqmfV2E

Put in prisons for seeking protection in the U.S.

Over 48,000 men and women since 2003.

They arrived in America and were greeted with handcuffs, given prison uniforms, sent to prison facilities and detained there for months – sometimes even years - often without any judge reviewing the need for their detention.

If that were not bad enough, what if you found out these people were detained while seeking asylum in the United States?

Each year the United States detains thousands of asylum seekers who have requested refuge from political, religious or other persecution abroad, jailing them in prisons and prison-like facilities – and in the last years it has gotten much worse.  Since 2005, the Department of Homeland Security has increased immigration detention beds by 78%.

That's why I'm writing you now. Just last week, Human Rights First released a report – U.S. Detention of Asylum Seekers: Seeking Protection, Finding Prison – that exposes the human and financial costs of detaining asylum seekers. In response to this report, we've received assurances that the new leadership at the Department of Homeland Security will review these practices, but we need your help to ensure that they make reforms that are real and lasting.  

Your letter could make all the difference

http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/campaign/asy_prisions?rk=spX8aDdqmfV2E

Each year Human Rights First helps hundreds of asylum seekers by providing pro bono legal representation and other assistance.  The stories we hear are heartbreaking: men and women who have fled political, religious and other persecution in places like Burma, Colombia, Guinea, Haiti and Tibet are brought in handcuffs to jails, made to wear prison uniforms, guarded by officers in prison attire and only allowed to visit with family and friends through glass barriers. Some detention facilities even neglect to use interpreters to communicate with detainees during medical exams, in some cases leading to dangerous misdiagnoses.

This widespread detention of asylum seekers is not only contrary to our nation's founding principles – it costs significantly more than other safe and successful alternatives to detention.

It is time for this country to stop treating asylum seekers like prisoners, but we need your help to make it happen: please, write the Department of Homeland Security today.

Eleanor Acer
Human Rights First

http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/campaign/asy_prisions?rk=spX8aDdqmfV2E