filed under Daily Dose
F**k This
12:11PM ON
08/20/2008
BY
Dave Segal
I am the grandson of Polish immigrants, who fled in the 1920s and 30s for obvious reasons. I went to Jewish day school; I grew up learning the stories of boats of Eastern Europeans turned away from American and British shores, dooming their passengers to imprisonment, and, for many, to death. I feel a deep solidarity with immigrants who’ve left home to try to create a better, safer, life — and a particular sympathy for the Guatemalans and Dominicans and others who came from countries whose attempts at democracy and stability have been consistently undermined by our own government.
This is from today’s NYTimes. I can’t take it any longer.
I’ve never been more immediately disgusted or dismayed by humanity’s ability to perpetrate evil, for concern for ’sovereignty,’ ‘purity,’ or whatever the abstraction/guise of the moment might be.
In the case of Hiu Lui Ng, who was the subject of an article last week in The New York Times, lawyers and relatives said that when he was racked with pain and too weak to walk, detention officials refused him a wheelchair, failed to take him to scheduled appointments for an M.R.I. exam or a CT scan, and instead took him in shackles to Hartford — where he was pressured to withdraw his appeals and accept deportation.
The lawsuit by Mr. De Los Santos and details of earlier medical evaluations that fell short of diagnosing Mr. Ng’s terminal illness and debilitating injury, emerged this week as members of Congress demanded a full accounting by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Department of Homeland Security.
In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Mr. De Los Santos, 37, said that Mr. Ng was briefly his cellmate early last month and that his extreme back pain and weakness were apparent.
“He was crying all night,” Mr. De Los Santos said from his home in Bridgeport, Conn., where he returned after he was released on bond on Friday. He faces deportation as a convicted drug dealer. “I got bottom bunk, he got the upper bunk, and when he’s going to bed, it’s terrible. And I got problems, too, in my back, but him, when I see him, I can’t sleep.”
August 20th, 2008 at 1:24PM
Annie Says:
Agree; it’s a little more heartbreaking whenever details emerge.
I’m not the most impressive advocator, but I sent off some letters Monday pushing for New England support of Sens. Menendez and Lofgrens’ Detainee Basic Medical Care Act. No matter what people think of the “immigration debate,” there’s no excuse for such suffering.
[Reply]
August 20th, 2008 at 3:01PM
chiz Says:
I think what is most disturbing by the Ng case is the broad classification of who is illegal and should be deported. Mr. Ng came legally on a visa and overstayed; he worked hard, got an education and was working as a computer programmer. I understand why the govt would want to deport criminals, but why would we want to deport someone like him? He’s contributing more to this country’s economy than millions of other naturally born Americans.
His attempts to file for residence readjustment was foiled by the beaurocrcacy that eventually killed him when immigration letters to him were sent to the wrong address. I have a lot of experience with the INS and let me tell you, they are the least organized and least efficient govt agency ever. This agency should not be in charged of the lives and likelihood of any human being. I’m really angry by this country’s attitude toward immigrants — as if an immigrant’s desire for a better life is less valid than an American’s.
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August 20th, 2008 at 3:16PM
Marc Marshall Says:
I read about this a few days ago and was very upset. I am always hearing people tout the US as the “best country in the world” but surely this man would have received more humanitarian treatment, not to mention medical treatment, in many other countries. The people responsible for this should be locked up themselves. We have laws against treating animals this poorly.
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August 20th, 2008 at 6:29PM
joe bernstein Says:
Chiz-I won’t bother any more with debating David on this because he fancies himself a crusader for human rights and common sense be damned.
I will agree with you about how screwed up the INS has always been in terms of the service component(dealing with legal aliens)-they have finally separated service and enforcement and that is a start.
The critical issue in the case of Mr.Ng is privatization.Custody of people should never be privatized.I retired from INS as a Special Agent in 1996 and privatization of detention was well underway.It leads to substandard treatment and the quality of those hired is subject to the vagaries of private employers.When Federal officers and the Public Health Service were incharge of detention there were far fewer instances of aliens dying in custody.The Wyatt Center is a better class of private corrections if you can believe that,because the US Marshals Service oversees its operation.
in years past,Federal detention personnel had to undergo extensive training and background investigation to be hired.
I saw some real horror stories of people denied what they deserved because of sloppy work on the part of both the INS and the State Department.
Enforcement,where I spent my entire 21 year career,wasted a lot of effort on relatively routine individuals when more undeserables should have been targeted-I feel fortunate to have spent 2 years in a human trafficking unit and 9 years in a drug task force because I was arresting people who were definitely not needed here.Many of them were legal aliens who committed felonies.
Incompetent and corrupt leadership was largely responsible for what transpired when I was on the job.Most people at my level tried to do a good job,whether young Mr.Segal thinks so or not.We do not owe any particular nationality special consideration unless they are legitimate refugees like the Southeast Asians or Liberians.
I really get revolted by Mr.Segal’s sneering at sovreignty-every country has it and every country has immigration laws.
The particular details of why Mr.Ng was ordered deported were not explained so neither you nor I know whether he violated a law relating to fraud or some other situation existed as the basis for a deportation order.
This death in custody should be thoroughly investigated.
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