• Unfair Immigration Policies

    While international law permits states to establish immigration policies and deportation procedures, it does not grant them discretion to violate human rights in the process. The United States regularly fails to uphold international human rights law in its immigration laws and enforcement policies, by violating the rights of immigrants to fair treatment at the hands of government, to proportional sanctions, to freedom from arbitrary detention, to respect for the right to family unity, and to protection from return to persecution. Such policies violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Refugee Convention, treaties to which the United States is party.

  • People stand on the steps of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices in New York on August 15, 2012.People stand on the steps of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices in New York on August 15, 2012.
    © 2012 Reuters
    US: Immigrant Ruling Rejects State Overreach
    A federal appeals court ruling held that Alabama and Georgia overstepped their authority to regulate immigrants, but left intact abusive provisions that allow authorities to investigate a person’s legal status during police stops.
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    Why Immigrant Stories Matter
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Reports

  • Cultivating Fear
    The Vulnerability of Immigrant Farmworkers in the US to Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment
  • No Way to Live
    Alabama’s Immigrant Law
  • A Costly Move
    Far and Frequent Transfers Impede Hearings for Immigrant Detainees in the United States
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Unfair Immigration Policies

  • US/California: Governor Should Protect Immigrant Crime Victims
    Oct 1, 2012
    A bill known as the Trust Act that California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed on September 30, 2012, would have encouraged immigrants to report crimes and seek redress.
  • Don't Kick Immigration Reform Down the Road
    Sep 5, 2012
    While politicians select their horses for the presidential race at the party conventions, someone needs to remind them that millions of Americans are quite ready to discuss immigration reform that would pull a large group of people, aching to be productive and constructive members of society, out from the shadows.
  • US/California: Improve Trust Between Immigrants and Law Enforcement
    Aug 31, 2012
    HRW writes in strong support of the TRUST Act, which would advance public safety by limiting the response to ICE holds of unauthorized immigrants to those convicted or charged by a District Attorney of serious or violent offenses, and by making clear to immigrant communities that mere contact with local law enforcement, including by victims and witnesses, will not lead to reporting to ICE.
  • Immigration waivers leave migrant children behind
    Aug 29, 2012
    The Department of Homeland Security began taking applications for "deferred action for childhood arrivals," temporary relief from deportation for unauthorized immigrants who were brought to the USA as children. Deferred action is intended for children who are "American" in everything but legal status, but the program's idea of "American" is unlikely to include child migrant farmworkers.
  • US: Immigrant Ruling Rejects State Overreach
    Aug 21, 2012
    A federal appeals court ruling held that Alabama and Georgia overstepped their authority to regulate immigrants, but left intact abusive provisions that allow authorities to investigate a person’s legal status during police stops.
  • US Vows to Better Protect Detained Immigrants
    Aug 9, 2012
    After three years of work by Human Rights Watch, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has adopted a new policy that could substantially reduce the number of transfers, giving immigrants a fairer chance.
  • US: Immigrants at Risk After Mixed Supreme Court Ruling on Arizona Law
    Jun 25, 2012
    The US Supreme Court’s decision to uphold part of Arizona’s immigrant law puts immigrant families in Arizona and other states at greater risk of abuse from local authorities. The ruling overturned several sections of the Arizona law, but it left intact a section requiring police to attempt to verify a person’s immigration status if they have “reasonable suspicion” that the individual is in the country without authorization.
  • US: New Deportation Policy Recognizes Ties to US
    Jun 15, 2012
    The Obama administration’s decision to end the deportation of certain young unauthorized immigrants recognizes the special consideration due immigrants who have lived in the United States since childhood.
  • US: Issue Comprehensive Prison Rape Protections for All Immigration Detainees
    Jun 13, 2012
    Human Rights Watch and 45 other organizations sent a letter to Secretary Janet Napolitano today, urging the Department of Homeland Security to develop strong, comprehensive standards to implement the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) in immigration facilities.
  • US: Female Farmworkers at Risk for Sex Abuse
    Jun 3, 2012
    Hundreds of thousands of female farmworkers face a high risk of sexual violence and harassment as they grow, pick and pack food in the United States. Americans may disagree on the way forward for immigration reform, but our current mix of contradictory federal laws infused with harsh state and local anti-immigrant policies is not only dysfunctional - it is abusive. Congress must act on comprehensive immigration reform to ensure that farmworkers can fully assert their rights to protection from abuse. When we eat what farmworkers produce, we must also work to ensure their safety.
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