FAQs About Torture Survivors in Immigration Detention

1. What is torture?
Torture is the intentional and systematic infliction of physical or psychological pain and suffering in order to punish, intimidate or gather information. Torture is practice by the governments of over 150 countries in the world, and it is estimated that there are more than 500,000 victims of torture currently living in the United States.

The United Nations Convention Against Torture defines torture as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”

2. Why are torture survivors in immigration detention?
There are two reasons that the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may put torture survivors in detention. Some torture survivors are arrested at the airport because they lack the proper passport or visa to enter the United States. Other torture survivors are put in immigration detention after they have entered the United States as refugees, asylees, parolees or legal permanent residents because they have committed crimes that could lead to their deportation.

3. How many torture survivors are in detention?
Of the 202,000 immigrants held in immigration detention each year, only a small proportion are torture survivors. While ICE does not keep statistics on the number of torture survivors in detention, our own work has shown that about 8 percent of the detained immigrants we interviewed were torture survivors.

4. Where are torture survivors detained?
ICE detains torture survivors in hundreds of prisons, jails and ICE detention centers across the United States. The Detained Torture Survivors Support Network assists immigrants in jails where there are very large numbers of immigration detainees: Arizona (Florence), Florida (Miami), Louisiana (New Orleans), New Jersey (Newark)/New York City and Pennsylvania (York).

5. How long are torture survivors usually detained?
Torture survivors seeking asylum are legally eligible for release from detention at any point, but ICE rarely grants asylum-seekers’ parole requests. Torture survivors who are being detained because they committed crimes can sometimes be released on bond, a decision made by an immigration judge. The majority of torture survivors, however, are kept in immigration detention until their cases are decided by the immigration court system, which can take anywhere from a few months to several years.

6. What kinds of immigration legal statuses are available to torture survivors?
Torture survivors can obtain legal immigration status in the form of refugee status, asylum, withholding of removal, and withholding or deferral of removal under the United Nations Convention Against Torture. For definitions of these legal statuses and explanations of the benefits that they provide, click here [link to Legal Information page].

7. What does LIRS do to assist torture survivors?
In addition to its sponsorship of the Detention Watch Network and its work with asylum, LIRS oversees the Detained Torture Survivors Support Network. This network is funded by the Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998, which established $15 million in funding for torture treatment centers in the United States. LIRS, along with 10 non-profit partners, receives $440,000 in funding to assist torture survivors in immigration detention.

8. Who are the DTSSN partners?
LIRS works with 10 partner agencies in five regions:

Arizona (Florence)
Florence Immigrant and Refugee Resource Project

Florida (Miami)
Catholic Charities Community Services, Archdiocese of Miami
Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center

Louisiana (New Orleans)
Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of New Orleans
Catholic Legal Immigration Network

New Jersey (Newark)/New York City
American Friends Service Committee
Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of New York
Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of Newark (N.J.)
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society

Pennsylvania (York)
Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center

9. How does the Detained Torture Survivors Support Network assist torture survivors?
The members of the Detained Torture Survivors Support Network provide legal services to torture survivors in immigration detention. Member attorneys conduct Know Your Rights legal presentations in ICE detention centers in order to identify torture survivors among the prison population. When torture survivors are identified, attorneys assist them according to the availability of resources. Sometimes torture survivors receive direct court representation, while others are referred to volunteer attorneys and law students, or are assisted in presenting their cases in court themselves.

10. How many torture survivors have been helped by the Detained Torture Survivors Support Network?
In the first three years of the program Detained Torture Survivors Support Network attorneys conducted 2,436 Know Your Rights presentations which were attended by 23,418 detainees. They identified 1,951 survivors of torture from this group. The program managed to obtain some form of legal representation for 60 percent of these survivors.

Page created May 26, 2005.