ACLU Attempts to Combat Immigrant Injustice

by: Katie Williamson

Stewart Detention Center

ATHENS, Ga. – Watching five year olds playing tag during recess would seem like a normal playtime activity. What is not normal is that these toddlers are required to wear bright orange prison jumpsuits. These are the children of undocumented immigrants who have been sent to detention centers across the southeast United States. According to Azadeh Shahshahani, an expert from the ACLU, putting these children in jumpsuits is an everyday occurrence at immigrant detention centers.

On Thursday, the Muslim Law Students Association brought in Azadeh Shahshahani from the American Civil Liberties Union to speak on the erosion of civil rights and social injustices to immigrants in Georgia in a post 9/11 environment.

Shahshahani is the project director of a new program the Georgia chapter of the ACLU. This project is known as the National Security/Immigrants Rights Project. She noted that this project aims at advocating the rights of undocumented immigrants and educating Georgia citizens about the treatment these families are receiving, both in society and in detention centers.

“We want to bring the treatment of all immigrants in Georgia into compliance with human rights standards,” said Shahshahani.

Shahshahani pointed out that one of the main problems in Georgia is that civil rights cases are being dismissed by the courts before they have a chance to go to trial. “A lot of the present cases that we deal with have the potential to change to face of law, but are being dismissed on the basis that they will endanger national security,” Shahshahani said.

Another issue that many immigrants are facing is the unfair treatment given to them by local law enforcers. The National Security/Immigrants’ Rights committee will focus on encouraging Georgia counties to allow the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Immigration and Custom Enforcement to deal with immigration detainment.

Shahshahani believes that if local police officers are allowed to monitor immigrants it will create unsafe communities for us all. “This practice leads to erosion of trust between local communities and law enforcement,” she said.

One of the main priorities the project is trying to pass a piece of legislature that will combat the current detainment system. With this new system, undocumented immigrants will be interrogated only by officers that have been trained by the Department of Customs and Immigration. Shahshahani said they expect the legislation to be brought up in the next session of the Georgia House of Representatives.

The third main focus of this new project is the process of immigrant detention and the facilities these people are being held. On October 12, more than 30 employees from the ACLU visited Stewart Detention Center located on the Georgia Alabama state line in Stewart County. “The most egregious violation these people are facing is the long period of detention and isolation these detainees face,” said Shahshahani.

The committee aims to bring the living conditions of the detainment centers into compliance with the international human rights standards. They also hope to halt the expansion of the immigration detention industrial complexes, a booming business according to Shahshahani. She said that private companies seek out rural areas, such as Stewart County, and offer to build holding centers. The counties comply because it is a good source of jobs and income for areas that otherwise struggle economically.

Shahshahani notes that until people are made aware of the current situation, they will not sympathize with the deplorable conditions these people are put in. She also encouraged students to get involved locally and begin a human rights coalition in Athens to draw awareness and light to the families facing unjust treatment. While this is a slow moving process, Shahshahani believes that this project is the first step in the right direction.