Regardless of their legal status, immigrants deserve a fair shot at justice once they are in this country. That's especially true for the most vulnerable, those in detention and facing deportation. All too often, however, they are denied justice and basic due process.
Those are the findings of a comprehensive report issued by the National Immigration Law Center, based on thousands of pages of reviews conducted by customs officials from 2001 to 2005 and turned over by court order in a legal case.
The report documents a wide variety of abuses in the detention system. These include denial of access to legal information and help, denial of minimal time for recreation, and violation of the standards for legal and family visits. Detainees were often placed in isolation with no justification, the report said.
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