Nineteen immigrants seeking political asylum in the United States have filed a suit against the U.S. Dept. of Justice for violations of their human rights during their stay at a detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The immigrants were psychologically and physically abused by the guards of the Esmor Immigrant Detention center in the early 1990s. Most were seeking political asylum in the United States and were waiting for court decisions. The suit is not blaming the DOJ for the abuses, but is blaming the DOJ for not protecting the immigrants from the abuses.

The abuses were cruel and brutal. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has confirmed the prisoners allegations: at various times, the immigrants were beaten; kicked; dragged; humiliated; denied food and hygienic necessities; shackled in chains; sexually abused; and placed in isolation cells.

Once investigations began, the guards did their best to hide the facts and protect each other from prosecution. Guards were intimidated and threatened with violence by their colleagues. Six guards were eventually prosecuted; two were charged with conspiracy, official misconduct, witness tampering, hindering apprehension, and obstructing the administration of law.

The case has several complex aspects. First of all, the primary defendant is the U.S. Department of Justice. The DOJ has claimed immunity from prosecution. The DOJ is the agency which can grant immunity; this is sort of like the President pardoning himself, or a judge finding himself not guilty.

Secondly, there are some questions of blame and responsibilty. The INS has put part of the blame on "poor supervision from the district office." Some guards felt that the prosecuted guards were taking the fall for someone higher up.

The immigrants' suit puts the blame on Esmor Correctional Services, the private corporation which was running the detention center, and the guards themselves. After discovering the abuses, INS cancelled their contract with Esmor. The Elizabeth dentention center has been taken over by the Corrections Corporation of America. Esmor has now changed its name to Correctional Services Corp. Esmor/CSC are the same friendly folks who run Seattle's INS facility and who want a bigger, techno-happy INS detention center built for them in Auburn.

Esmor/CSC lawyers are claiming that the corporation should not be sued for violating international human rights laws. Americans like to turn a blind eye to this sort of thing. In the American psyche, it appears that criminals are "bad," and it's very hard to justify sympathy or common ground with these "bad" people. The incarcerated are probably the most systematically silenced voices in the United States.

One of the things that makes all this so infuriating is the betrayal of the immgrants' faith, and that the country that was supposed to save them simply added to their suffering. They included Fauziya Kasinga, a 17- year-old woman fleeing her tribe in Togo, where she was going to be forced to undergo "female circumcision" (i.e. ritual genital mutilation); and Mohamed Hassan, an 18 year-old man who was fleeing a Somali clan which had killed his entire family.

Both came to the United States with improper paperwork, but had been told that they need only ask for asylum and that all would be well. Instead, they were both thrown into prisons to await court decisions, prisons where they had fewer rights than convicted felons. Kasinga and Hassan were "detained" for more than two years each, during which they suffered the abuses mentioned above.

They have both now been granted asylum, perhaps only due to publicity given to their cases. On the upside, the decision regarding Kasinga sets a precedent that escaping female circumsision is a valid cause to grant asylum.

According to Amnesty International, between 11,000 and 12,000 asylum-seekers were kept in federal, state and country prisons in the United States in 1997. Many are not so lucky as those freed from Esmor.