National Immigration Law Forum

Bills will Protect U.S. Citizens From Unlawful Detention and Ensure Due Process Rights to Detainees

Washington, DC – Today (July 30) in the Senate, two important pieces of legislation seeking to fix our broken immigration detention system were introduced: the “Protect Citizens and Residents from Unlawful Detention Act” sponsored by Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and the “Strong STANDARDS Act (Safe Treatment, Avoiding Needless Deaths, and Abuse Reduction in the Detention System)” sponsored by Senators Menendez and Gillibrand.  The legislation would address some of the concerns raised by recent news articles and reports, over the deteriorating conditions and lack of due process protections for immigrants in detention.  The following is a statement by Douglas Rivlin, Communications Director of the National Immigration Forum, a non-partisan, non-profit pro-immigrant advocacy organization in Washington. Continue reading →