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| home | join | contact | cle | sections | calendar | search | updated: January 17, 2008 | |
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| Boston Bar Association | |
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BBA ENDORSES TWO ABA RESOLUTIONS ON HUMAN RIGHTS The BBA Council has voted to endorse two ABA resolutions concerning national detention standards and excessive fees for immigration and naturalization benefits. The ABA resolution regarding national detention standards urges that the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, issue legally enforceable detention standards, to be applied and enforced at all facilities where non-citizens are detained for immigration purposes, and that to the extent immigrants are subject to detention, such detention should be in the least restrictive setting and not be with criminal inmates. In addition, the resolution supports improvement, review, and increased oversight of the detention standards, including observation by nongovernmental organizations, the provision of hard copy legal materials to detainees, and contact visits from family and friends for detainees, as well as other services and considerations. The ABA resolution regarding fees for immigration and naturalization benefits advises the federal government to ensure that fees for immigration and naturalization benefits are not so burdensome as to deter applicants from applying for these benefits; that fee waivers be made reasonably available for those applicants who cannot pay; and that fees not be charged for applications for those who seek humanitarian relief. Further, this recommendation urges Congress and the executive branch to ensure that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are adequately funded, so that applicants need not bear costs unrelated to application processing, and so that applicants are not deterred from applying. The two resolutions will be presented to the ABA House of Delegates by the ABA Commission on Immigration at the ABA midyear meeting in February in Los Angeles, CA. |