Confused? So am I.
In July, "Deportation by Default", a 98-page report posted on the Human Rights Watch website, was written saying that "immigrants with mental disabilities are often unjustifiably detained for years on end, sometimes with no legal limits." Basically, since they weren't able to think for themselves, they were just sent back out of the United States or held in indefinite detention as a result of an unfair trial.
The report presents the methods in which immigrants are screened and put to trial in the courtroom. It continues with explaining the violation of human justification and then offers suggestions on how to handle it in a morally just way (e.g. making sure they know the immigrant has a mental disability before proceeding with the trail).
Often, immigrants are denied access to a lawyer and there is an absence of legal standards in immigration court. From what the report entails, there's not a lot to look forward to if you're an immigrant found inside of immigration court.
People with disabilities were interviewed for this report. Some didn't know their own names, didn't know how to tell time, were delusional and had no idea what being deported from the United States meant.
Ever got in trouble and had no idea why? I know we've all been there. It's an awful feeling and we sometimes spend way too much time wondering what we did. We can do that. We, meaning those without mental disabilities, are able to wonder why. We're able to somewhat control what goes through our minds. For example, we learn things. We hear things by listening to people and comprehending what they say. We're able to apply it to life, so we can talk about it later. We have the mental capacity to do that.
For those who can't, or aren't able to understand as quickly as we can, should we just leave them behind? Simply because they can't think for themselves? Because they can't help themselves, are we not going to even try and help them? And what about the people with mental disabilities that are already in the US? That were fortunate enough to be born here? Were they just lucky?
Many more human rights issues occur abroad. Other countries have a different way of governing their people, laying down their laws, and running a country.
There's an entire world besides the United States out there, but sometimes, we just seem to treat them like they're an entirely different species from our own. But they're not. We're all humans. We're born with the same rights, we just happen to be born in different places.
What would your life be like if you were born somewhere other than the United States?
I had no idea that immigrants with disabilities were treated this way. I don't know if I'm just ignorant or if this is something that is just sort of kept out of the public eye. Are a lot of people aware of this issue? I was upset after reading this and I just wonder how others are responding to this issue. Do people really care because it doesn't concern them personally? Or are people concerned with the way we are treating these people? It upsets me because we do live in such a free and diverse country, yet at the same time immigrants with disabilities are being treated this way.
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