RWG Congratulates Governor Napolitano, Nominee for Secretary of Department of Homeland Security

Contact: Priya Doshi, Rights Working Group, 202-296-2300 Ext. 125

Urges New Secretary To Conduct Top to Bottom Review of Immigrant Enforcement Policies

Washington, D.C., November 25, 2008 – The Rights Working Group congratulates Governor Janet Napolitano on being selected to head the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and calls on the incoming Secretary to conduct a thorough review of misguided Bush Administration immigration enforcement policies that have violated due process protections and human rights of many living in the U.S.

"We look forward to working with incoming Secretary Napolitano to implement President-Elect Obama's promise to conduct a top to bottom review of DHS policies. We urge the Secretary to establish enforceable standards that protect basic human rights in Immigration and Customs (ICE) practices," said Margaret Huang, Executive Director of the Rights Working Group. "While enforcing immigration laws is important and necessary, the Bush Administration's approach to implementation has undermined Constitutional protections guaranteed to all people in the U.S. It is time to restore the U.S. commitment to human rights and due process."

The current system of immigration enforcement has squandered resources by sweeping up thousands of individuals - including citizens and legal residents - in immigration raids. In these raids, the ICE under DHS has failed to uphold basic human rights and due process protections by denying individuals access to an attorney, a fair day in court or judicial review that takes into account individual circumstances. Moreover, inhumane and overcrowded conditions at facilities where immigrants are detained have resulted in more than 80 deaths since 2004, many of them preventable.

In 2008, the Rights Working Group launched a campaign to Hold DHS Accountable! which calls for DHS to:

• End immigration raids that lock up people without due process,
• Stop inhumane detention conditions and arbitrary imprisonment without trials, and
• Create fair and efficient mechanisms for processing citizenship applications to prevent recurring massive naturalization backlogs.

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The Rights Working Group is a coalition of 250 community-based grassroots groups and national organizations formed in the aftermath of 9/11 that calls on the government to protect the civil liberties and human rights of all people living in the U.S.