This week marks the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. Perhaps Congress should read it. The Immigration and Naturalization Service in particular needs a refresher course. These two institutions are working in tandem to ensure that America is known as the "land of immigrants" only in its history books.

INS treatment of U.S. immigrants--regardless of citizenship status--is shameful. The organization violates articles in the UN Declaration that guarantee liberties many Americans take for granted. These include the right to join trade unions, security of person, and access to legal counsel. This vital document also protects individuals from arbitrary arrest and detention, attacks upon honor, and degrading treatment or punishment.

Congress handed the INS a vicious weapon in the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA). And the political climate for immigrant protection remains extremely chilly today.

In early October the final nail of the Draconian IIRIRA was hammered into place, requiring the INS to deport thousands of people based on retroactive crimes. These legal permanent residents and non-citizens are being thrown into detention or jail regardless of how long ago they committed the crime and how long they have lived in the U.S. Congress loosened the definition of "aggravated felony"--which is grounds for deportation--to include perjury, some gambling offenses, and failure to appear before court for certain charges. The drastic redefinition encompasses most crimes that carry a one-year sentence or more, including 12 months of probation.

Recently, the INS swept up over 500 immigrants with three or more drunken-driving convictions and put them on the road to permanent deportation. That was in Texas alone. Many of those arrested had already served time for their crime years ago and had successfully undergone treatment for alcoholism. Rehabilitation should be the goal of incarceration and must be encouraged.

The stark language of the IIRIRA offers no leeway for mitigating circumstances and reduces chances of appeal. Those taken into custody cannot be released on bond and, once deported, can never legally return to the U.S. This clearly ignores the constitutional right to due process.

The INS currently detains about 16,000 people. This number has tripled over the last six years, making the INS the most rapidly expanding prison program in the country. It's prison, because the majority of detainees are held in city and county jails. These jails rarely provide adequate access to medical care, educational or vocational training, religious services, or recreation, and do not guarantee legal counsel. Often, detainees--people seeking citizenship in the land of immigrants--are treated like criminals. And some are detained indefinitely.

Many Uch, a legal immigrant from Cambodia, sits in the Kent Correctional Facility with no end to his captivity in sight. He already served his sentence for attempted robbery, which had been reduced for good behavior. Now it has been over a year since his expected release, yet he continues to wait, growing more frustrated and resentful. IIRIRA and bad will keep him confined.

Deportation is difficult to countries that the U.S. has no diplomatic relations with, like Cambodia, Cuba, North Korea, and Afghanistan. However, this legal hassle grants the INS no excuse for incarcerating people who have already faced their punishment, holding them indefinitely with no legal recourse. These actions clearly violate Articles 8 and 9 of the UN Declaration. The first guarantees "effective remedy" by the courts when an individual's rights are threatened and the second protects against arbitrary detention.

Harsher immigration law also deters people from seeking citizenship. Branded by a past felony, many permanent residents do not want to step forward and risk deportation.

As thousands of applicants wait patiently for the citizenship process to grind forward, Congress heaps millions more on border control and interior enforcement. This emphasis spurs an increase in INS raids, many of which have been documented by the Washington Alliance for Immigrant and Refugee Justice. Some of these incidents reveal blatant portrayals of human rights violations: racial targeting, denial of due process, unlawful search and seizure, and physical and psychological abuse.

Even though less than half of the undocumented population is Mexican, INS agents routinely target individuals who they believe to be Mexican based on racial and ethnic stereotypes. Selective enforcement exacerbates tensions in a society already stained by institutional racism.

Frequently, U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents are arrested during raids, upsetting their constitutional rights. In WAIRJ's scathing report, witnesses describe how INS agents use physical and verbal abuse to threaten and control workers during raids.

Yet, the INS cannot control immigration. Even though raids appear popular during a time of heightened immigrant bashing, they ignore the root causes of immigration. An effective strategy must embrace international human rights standards and work to mend the economic, political, and environmental dilemmas that promote migration.

These uncivil INS tactics violate the heart of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration was created in a legal void where lack of respect for human rights resulted in barbarous acts. Its principals are supposed to ring in harmony with our democracy. Instead, the INS now has more armed employees than any other federal law enforcement agency, and Congress fortifies their relentless watch with authoritarian laws. But who watches the INS?