///Rapid Response 06/17/08
Medical Care for Detainees

More than 280,000 immigrants are held each year in overcrowded detention centers. They are there because they have fled persecution in their home countries and are awaiting a decision on their asylum application or because they are in the process of being deported. Since July of 2005, the number of immigrants held in detention has increased by 65 percent, overwhelming the system and resulting in dangerous declines in the quality of life for detainees. Those detained receive shockingly inadequate healthcare, if any at all. At least 83 immigrants have died in detention since 2003 due to improper medical care.

One example is Joseph Dantica, an 81-year-old Baptist minister who fled Haiti after his church was set on fire by gangs. He arrived in the United States with a valid visa and applied for asylum. He was held at a detention facility where his blood pressure medication was confiscated and thus became very ill. He was accused of faking his symptoms and was denied medical care. He died, shackled to a bed, three days after reaching the United States.

The Detainee Basic Medical Care Act (H.R. 5950 and S. 3005) is being sponsored by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) but other sponsors (especially Republican sponsors) are needed before it is introduced for consideration. Please urge your Senators and Representative to cosponsor this bill and vote yes when it comes forward for consideration.

The Detainee Basic Medical Care Bill would:

• Mandate minimum standards of care to provide asylum seekers and other immigrant detainees timely and effective medical treatment;
• Ensure that detainees with serious health conditions receive necessary medication and care based on professional clinical judgments, which immigration officials currently often ignore; and
• Require Immigration and Customs Enforcement to report, within 48 hours, information regarding the death of anyone held in custody, information they currently keep from the public.

Thank you for your willingness to take action.