Medical Advocacy on Behalf of Detained Immigrants

Detention of immigrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a rapidly growing form of incarceration in the U.S. with almost 400,000 people detained in 2008 (Schriro in Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 2009, http://www.ice.gov/doclib/091005_ice_detention_report-final.pdf). ICE detainees are predominantly from Mexico and Latin America and only a small minority of detainees are asylum seekers. Immigrant detainees lack a legal guarantee of medical care (unlike criminal arrestees and prisoners) and face challenges in receiving medical care, particularly those with chronic medical conditions (Venters and Keller in J Health Care Poor Underserved 20:951–957, 2009). Although we and others have long been involved in advocating for detained asylum seekers, few resources are dedicated to medical advocacy for the broader population of ICE detainees. At the NYU Center for Health and Human Rights (CHHR), a program of medical advocacy was initiated in 2007 on behalf of ICE detainees focused on improvement of care in detention and medical parole. Our preliminary efforts reveal a pressing need for more involvement by physicians and other health advocates in this area.