Los Angeles ICE raids violate human rights

Police arrested eight immigrants-rights activists in downtown Los Angeles last Tuesday. The demonstration peaked in the late morning, as an estimated 300 protesters blocked an intersection near the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building. Several of the hundreds of protesters present laid their bodies down on the asphalt, hands clasped together, while others formed a large circle around the recumbent demonstrators. The activists, amid the various chants, had one resounding demand: an end to Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids detaining Central American immigrants.

ICE raids began across the nation on Jan. 2 with the detention of 121 people from Central America living in Texas, Georgia and North Carolina. The 121 detained Central American women and children comprise a fraction of the thousands who have fled Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala — the Northern Triangle — in search of refuge from rampant gang violence — specifically kidnapping, rape and murder. The Obama administration’s decision to authorize these raids comes on the heels of Congress’ failure to pass immigration reform and the President’s subsequent executive orders on immigration.

In response to the outcry, like that of the 300 protesters in downtown Los Angeles, public officials, notably Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, have defiantly defended the recent ICE raids.

“As I have said repeatedly, our borders are not open to illegal migration; if you come here illegally, we will send you back consistent with our laws and values,” Johnson said in a statement Jan. 4.

However, the Obama administration and officials like Johnson have failed to dutifully recognize that the wave of thousands of Central Americans into the United States since 2014 is not merely an immigration issue. Indeed, the nation is in the midst of not only an unmitigated refugee crisis but also, more broadly, an international crisis of human rights, inconsistent with the laws and values the nation purports to uphold.

The Central American migrants who have escaped the Northern Triangle, which contains the most homicidal countries in the region, are not “illegal” as Johnson presumptively suggests; rather, the men, women and children — both accompanied and unaccompanied — who make the often-dangerous, precarious journey to the States are refugees with asylum claims that deserve lawful consideration. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Torture Convention — two instruments of international human rights law to which the United States is a party — clearly affirm the principle of non-refoulement, which states that a person likely to experience “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” only if they are a danger to the nation or host country.

Further, the Southern Poverty Law Center reports in an investigation of the Atlanta ICE raids that federal officials were “needlessly aggressive” and committed “potentially unconstitutional” acts while detaining Central American women and children. The Atlanta raids appear to have been executed without warrants and without the voluntary and lawful consent necessary for officials to enter immigrants’ homes. ICE agents, in addition, denied women access to lawyers and forced them to sign legal documents they did not understand.

If the United States supports and protects human rights as it claims, then the Department of Homeland Security must end the ICE raids immediately. In the short term, the federal government should also grant Temporary Protected Status for individuals living in the U.S., close all family detention centers and ensure due process and other constitutional protections for every immigrant. Moreover, the federal government must ultimately resolve to reform its asylum system — a broken process that presents a number of insurmountable hurdles for the thousands seeking refuge.

As the 2016 presidential election approaches, one should consider the candidates’ positions on immigration reform. The Obama administration’s recent response to Central American migrants has disappointed many human rights advocates. The upcoming election will be an opportunity to absolve the nation of its sustained, unlawful treatment of asylum-seekers. USC students passionate about issues of human rights should inquire about any of the several organizations on campus, like United Nations Association USC and USC Amnesty International, which are committed to bringing awareness to injustice. In the face of political gridlock, student activism remains a powerful force in the effort to dismantle systemic injustice.