350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 Tel: 212-290-4700 Fax: 212-736-1300; 917-591-3452 April 7, 2021 U S P R O G R A M Nicole Austin-Hillery, Executive Director The Honorable Chuck Schumer Emma Bredthauer, Administrative Assistant Dreisen Heath, Assistant Researcher Majority Leader Clara Long, Associate Director United States Senate Grace Meng, Associate Director Alison Leal Parker, Managing Director 322 Hart Senate Office Building Laura Pitter, Deputy Director Thomas J. Rachko, Jr., Senior Coordinator Washington, DC 20515 John Raphling, Senior Researcher Brian Root, Senior Quantitative Analyst Ariana Sawyer, US Border Researcher Victoria Strang, Policy Advocate with Faith Communities The Honorable Mitch McConnell Minority Leader Human Rights Watch Kenneth Roth, Executive Director United States Senate Tirana Hassan, Deputy Executive Director and Chief Programs 317 Russell Senate Office Building Officer Michele Alexander, Deputy Executive Director, Development and Washington, DC 20515 Global Initiatives Colin Mincy, Chief People Officer Emma Daly, Chief Communications Officer (Acting) Barbara Pirto, Finance Director The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Dinah PoKempner, General Counsel Bruno Stagno Ugarte, Chief Advocacy Officer Speaker of the House of Representatives James Powell, Chief Technology Officer US House of Representatives James Ross, Legal & Policy Director 1236 Longworth House Office Building Board of Directors Washington, DC 20515 Amy Rao, Co-Chair Neil Rimer Co-Chair Oki Matsumoto, Vice-Chair Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, Vice-Chair The Honorable Kevin McCarthy Amy Towers, Vice-Chair Minority Leader Catherine Zennström, Vice-Chair Bruce Rabb, US House of Representatives Akwasi Aidoo Lishan Aklog 2468 Rayburn House Office Building George Coelho Kimberly Marteau Emerson Washington, DC 20515 Loubna Freih Leslie Gilbert-Lurie Paul Gray Re: FY 2022 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Bills Caitlin Heising Karen Herskovitz Judith Heumann Susan Kane Dear Majority Leader Schumer, Minority Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, and Betsy Karel David Lakhdhir Leader McCarthy: Louisa Lee-Reizes Alicia Miñana Joan R. Platt I write on behalf of Human Rights Watch to urge you to reduce funding for Neil Rimer Shelley F. Rubin abusive immigration detention and enforcement activities, invest in the Shelley Frost Rubin Ambassador Robin Sanders transformation of border reception toward a humanitarian model that respects Sidney Sheinberg* Bruce Simpson human rights, and appropriate funding to secure accountability and redress for Joseph Skrzynski the inhumane and discriminatory immigration policies put in place by the Donna Slaight Siri Stolt-Nielsen administration of former President Donald Trump. Marie Warburg Isabelle de Wismes Masa Yanagisawa Andrew Zolli Recent appropriations during the Trump administration exacerbated the *In Memoriam (1935—2019) abuses of an immigration enforcement system that has long failed to protect the rights of immigrants in the United States. We urge Congress to set a new course by ensuring that Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations help to create a more rights-respecting system. 1 AMSTERDAM · BEIRUT · BERLIN·BRUSSELS·CHICAGO · GENEVA·JOHANNESBURG · LONDON·LOS ANGELES·MOSCOW· NAIROBI · NEW YORK·PARIS · SAN FRANCISCO - TOKYO · TORONTO·WASHINGTON - ZURICH Reduce Funding for Abusive Enforcement Immigration detention under the Trump administration grew unchecked, as 40 new detention facilities were opened between 2017 and 2020. These facilities severely limited detainees’ access to counsel, exposed them to inhumane medical and sanitary conditions, and were mostly located within the jurisdiction of one ICE field office where the chance of being released on parole was less than one percent.12 Many of the issues documented by Human Rights Watch and other civil and human rights organizations in immigration detention have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Fiscal Year 2020 saw the highest-reported death toll of immigrants under ICE custody in 15 years as 21 people died—up from 8 in FY20193—and detention facilities failed to institute appropriate safety measures.4 Human Rights Watch has also found systemic poor treatment of immigrant children and women in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody held in holding cells that migrants call “hieleras” or freezers. Children in particular suffer from separation not only from parents, but also other caregivers, such as siblings, grandparents, aunts, and uncles.5 In 2019, CBP requested millions in supplemental funding for consumables and medical care for migrants in their care, claiming to be overwhelmed by the number of children and families coming to the US-Mexico border. The Government Accountability Office, however, found CBP mismanaged the funds and instead spent them on “items such as boats, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), and dirt bikes.”6 The Trump administration claimed family separations were necessary in order to prosecute parents for immigration offenses, such as illegal entry and reentry under sections 1325 and 1326 of title 8 of the United States Code. Human Rights Watch has long documented the severe harms not only of these separations but also of the underlying prosecutions. Even prior to the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy, such prosecutions violated the rights of asylum seekers and the rights of all migrants to family unity.7 We urge Congress to: • Reduce funding for ICE and CBP detention; 1 American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch, and National Immigrant Justice Center, Justice Free Zones: U.S. Immigration Detention Under the Trump Administration (New York: American Civil Liberties Union, 2020), https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/supporting_resources/justice_free_zones_immigrant_detention.pdf. 2 Human Rights Watch, Code Red: The Fatal Consequences of Dangerously Substandard Medical Care in Immigration Detention (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2018), https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/06/20/code-red/fatal-consequences-dangerously-substandard-medical- care-immigration. 3 Cato Institute, “21 People Died in Immigration Detention in 2020,” October 22, 2020, https://www.cato.org/blog/21-people-died- immigration-detention-2020 (accessed April 6, 2021). 4 Doug Smith, “Federal judge orders COVID-19 testing at Bakersfield immigration detention facility,” Los Angeles Times, August 16, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-16/federal-judge-orders-covid-19-testing-at-bakersfield-immigration-detention-facility (accessed April 6, 2020); Jenny Gathright, “Inspection Finds ‘Systematic’ Failings In Farmville Immigrant Detention Center Response To COVID-19 Outbreak,” WAMU 88.5 American University Radio, September 10, 2020, https://wamu.org/story/20/09/10/inspection-finds- systematic-failings-in-farmville-immigrant-detention-center-response-to-covid-19-outbreak/ (accessed April 6, 2020). 5 Human Rights Watch, In the Freezer: Abusive Conditions for Women and Children in US Immigration Holding Cells (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2018), https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/02/28/freezer/abusive-conditions-women-and-children-us-immigration-holding- cells. 6 United States Government Accountability Office, Decision in the Matter of U.S. Customs and Border Protection—Obligations of Amounts Appropriated in the 2019 Emergency Supplemental, June 11, 2020 https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/707500.pdf (accessed April 6, 2021). 7 Human Rights Watch, Turning Migrants into Criminals: The Harmful Impact of US Border Prosecutions (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2013), https://www.hrw.org/report/2013/05/22/turning-migrants-criminals/harmful-impact-us-border-prosecutions. 2 • Invest with additional funding to the Detention Case Management Pilot Program administered by the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, previously funded by $5 million in the FY 2021 bill; • Make no funding available to remove a child from a parent or legal guardian or primary caregiver; and • Make no funding available to conduct prosecutions for violations under 8 USC §§ 1325 and 1326. Appropriate Funding for a Humanitarian Reception System The Trump administration decimated the US asylum system at the southern border via deterrence- focused policies that turned away tens of thousands of vulnerable asylum seekers. Policies such as the Title 42 summary expulsion order, the Asylum Cooperative Agreements (ACAs), and the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) have harmed women, children, and families,8 forcing tens of thousands of asylum seekers to wait for hearings in Mexico in dangerous conditions and to face processes that denied them a fair hearing.9 Our research shows that the consequences of returning those in need of protection from danger can be catastrophic—resulting in sexual assault, torture, and death.10 We urge Congress to • Appropriate funding to the Office of Refugee Resettlement and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to work with community-based organizations and other civil society actors to build out a humanitarian reception system through temporary facilities that provide appropriate services, such as basic medical care, psychosocial support, orientation to legal responsibilities and rights, referrals to community-based case management services at destination cities, and facilitation of onward travel; • Direct DHS to expand access to child welfare and mental health professionals at the border who are better equipped than CBP agents to manage processing given the trauma experienced by asylum seekers and migrant children and families; and • Ensure