Reports the results of an Amnesty International (AI) questionnaire sent in December 2002 to 115 facilities in the United States that have been used by immigration authorities to house unaccompanied children. The questionnaire requested information on the policies, procedures, and conditions of detention. AI also visited three facilities housing unaccompanied minors. As a result of this research, AI found that unaccompanied children caught in the U.S. immigration system are routinely deprived of their rights. The violations uncovered by AI include: length and conditions of detention; use of excessive force, restraints and strip searches; lack of protection from arbitrary detention; lack of gender and age sensitivity; and failure to comply with Flores protections and international standards of law. Furthermore, AI has long advocated that the responsibility for the care of unaccompanied children be transferred from Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to an agency that is not acting as the prosecutor seeking the child’s removal from the United States. Under the Homeland Security Act of 2003, INS ceased to exist, and the newly created Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has assumed many of its functions. Some of the care and custody of unaccompanied children has been assigned to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Critical changes must be implemented by ORR to safeguard the rights of children under its care, and additional funds must be allocated by the U.S. Congress to demonstrate its commitment to the process.
