Human Rights Should Anchor Homeland Security
New America Media, Commentary, Krishanti Dharmaraj and Sara Hossaini, Posted: Feb 21, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO – A recent immigration case in Philadelphia reminds us of how important it is to protect human rights for all, that to insist that human rights be granted to all regardless of immigration status will in the long haul protect all Americans.
Recently a Chinese woman living in Philadelphia became the victim of this terrible, destructive confusion. Zhenxing Jiang came to the United States from China seeking asylum, which was eventually denied. She had been allowed to stay in the country and help run the family take-out business because her husband's asylum case is still ongoing. For the past ten years, they have continued to pay taxes and raise two young American-born sons, who are citizens. For years, Jiang had been appearing, without fail, at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office for regularly scheduled appointments.
That is, until February 7, when federal immigration officers tried to forcibly deport her after learning just that morning that she was pregnant with twins. The New York Times reports that Jiang was immediately hustled to a New York airport where concerned travelers, not immigration officers, finally called an ambulance after hearing her pleas for help and complaints of extreme abdominal pain. Jiang's lawyer reports that the officers pushed and bruised her, ignored her complaints of stomach pain and offered her nothing to eat during the entire eight-hour ordeal. By the time she arrived at the hospital, her two twin fetuses were dead.
Meanwhile, Jiang's family unknowingly waited hours for her return just outside her interview room, as her requests to take her children, or at least speak to her family were denied. Her husband reports that when he inquired about her long absence, immigration officers told him to "come back tomorrow at 9 a.m., and maybe we'll tell you." Immigration officials treated Jiang this way on the grounds that they could not allow another two children onto U.S. soil. Jiang was released from the hospital this week and is now in hiding, mourning her loss.
Immigration officers denied Jiang such basic, inherent and inalienable rights as the right to found a family and to family unity, as well as freedom from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and arbitrary detention or exile. It's interesting to note that there are only three civil rights which don't automatically apply to everyone within our borders, regardless of how they got here; these include the right to vote, attain political office and the "right to enter" freely.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its agents violated this inherent right to dignity and humanity because they did not take Jiang’s humanity into consideration. We know from our own histories and experiences that allowing certain groups to deviate from the well-established legal and moral definition of being human – to allow them to decide for themselves who qualifies – has resulted in genocide, torture, disappearances and executions.
It may be helpful to remember now that the United States was once at the forefront of Human Rights recognition. Eleanor Roosevelt was a major player in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The United States has ratified several United Nations treaties protecting against torture, genocide and racial discrimination.
Unfortunately, we have retreated from these ideals. The United States has never held itself accountable to the standards it demands from other countries, and we have paid dearly. In 1987, the United States and Israel were the only two countries to oppose a major UN resolution condemning terrorism and calling on governments to act forcefully to overcome it. We are the only industrialized nation not to ratify important human rights treaties specifically designed to protect women, children and migrant workers.
In the current political environment of fear and xenophobia, things may get worse for people like Jiang, and for us all. Under the guise of national security, many people are taking action to perpetuate the erosion of the human rights of noncitizens. Outrageous legislation like the "Border Security and Interior Enforcement Improvement Act of 2005," a similar bill to one recently passed in the House, will allow local law enforcement to act as immigration officials, authorizing them to question, demand "papers" and detain anyone who cannot immediately prove his/her legal status.
The bill also defines any relative, employer, coworker, co-congregant or friend as an "alien smuggler," even if you did not know the person was undocumented. This classification extends to a teacher of undocumented children, or a domestic abuse counselor who assists an undocumented woman.
The U.S. government is informing us that it will provide us security at the expense of freedom, but the real choice is between a country where human rights are protected regardless of identity and a country in which no one is safe.
We must oppose bringing the behavior recently exemplified by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency into our neighborhoods. It is time for citizens to ask their senators to pressure the Senate Judiciary Committee to stop the Border Security and Interior Enforcement Improvement Act of 2005 in its tracks. Jiang's sad story is a striking reminder that any effort to strengthen security must incorporate human rights standards.
Krishanti Dharmaraj is the executive director and Sara Hossaini the director of communications and outreach for Women’s Institute for Leadership Development for Human Rights.
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