Great news
! LIRS was able to provide some insights for the Boston Globe’s investigative reporting on private-sector profits from immigration detention.
The piece by Maria Sacchetti, “Program to Track Immigrants Grows, Drawing Scrutiny,” has a pointed sub-headline, “Advocates question firm’s methods, especially its use of GPS devices.”
Sacchetti quotes LIRS Access to Justice Interim Director Megan Bremer as saying:
It’s not appropriate to have intensive supervision and especially GPS devices for people who pose very little flight risk.
Sacchetti cites Bremer and others as observing that “immigration officials could get results with phone calls, some home visits, and helping immigrants plan to leave the United States.”
The debate over immigration reform has been simmering for a long time, but the question of comprehensive reform has helped make it a front-burner issue. It’s vital that we’re able to keep people informed, so we’re grateful to the Globe for keeping issues like alternatives to detention in the public eye. For more information on alternatives to detention, please see the LIRS report Unlocking Liberty.