Safeguarding Religious Rights in Immigration Detention Centers

UNITED SIKHS SIGNS ONTO LETTER WITH U.S. CONGRESSMEMBERS TO DEMAND INVESTIGATION OF VIOLATIONS OF RELIGIOUS RIGHTS IN I.C.E. DETENTION CENTERS

Dated: August 28, 2020

New York, NY

This week, UNITED SIKHS International Human and Civil Rights Advocacy, ICHRA joined Congress members Rep. Ilhan Omar, Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Rep. André Carson and many other civil rights groups to demand an investigation into allegations that the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility at the Krome Service Processing Center, in Miami, Florida violates the religious and human rights of Muslim detainees and refuses to grant reasonable religious accommodations to persons in its custody.

The letter was addressed to Cameron Quinn, Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Joseph V. Cuffari, the DHS Inspector General. According to the letter, detainees at Krome are forced to eat pork or, alternatively, given spoiled and “dangerously poor food quality halal food” in violation of law and ICE’s 2011 “Performance-Based National Detention Standards.” https://www.ice.gov/doclib/detention-standards/2011/5-5.pdf.

UNITED SIKHS has been at the forefront of challenges to ensure that Sikh and other minority communities’ religious rights are protected and not sidelined. We join Congress members and other religious and civil rights groups to ensure that an investigation leads to necessary reforms.

UNITED SIKHS is concerned about prisoners’ civil rights generally and about these recent allegations of abuses against members of the Muslim community specifically because government abuses and neglect of any community are an affront to the ideals we all cherish.

In addition, Sikhs too must often seek religious accommodations when being held in ICE custody. See https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-indian-immigrants-20180813-story.html. According to civil rights advocates there has been a history of religious freedom violations across ICE detention facilities. There are also grounds to believe that the Krome Center is not the only facility where these alleged violations are occurring. https://www.acslaw.org/expertforum/ice-contract-facilities-including-counties-continue-to-violate-the-religious-exercise-rights-of-muslim-detainees/.

The letter to Ms. Quinn specifically calls for:

1) all ICE officers responsible for the violations to be held accountable;

2) an examination of the grievance and complaint system at Krome and other facilities, https://www.ice.gov/doclib/detention-standards/2011/6-2.pdf;

3) a response to grievances about the meal issues filed by detainees that have gone unanswered;

4) that the results of the investigation to be made public; and

5) that DHS do everything in its power to ensure that all Muslim and other detainees requiring religious dietary accommodations are granted those accommodations.

Finally, the letter reminds DHS and ICE that “the fundamental values of religious freedom and equality before the law are essential to the fabric of our democracy.”

If you need assistance to obtain a religious accommodation or have any questions pertaining to religious rights, please write to Law-USA@unitedsikhs.org.

UNITED SIKHS

International Human and Civil Rights Advocacy, ICHRA
By: Gundeep Singh, Media Coordinator
media-usa@unitedsikhs.org