Report blasts U.S. government department's treatment of HIV immigrant detainees

Dec 9 2007

A new report by the Human Rights Watch has blasted the Department of Homeland Security in the United States over its record with immigrant detainees with HIV.

Human Rights Watch is a U.S.-based international, non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights and is based in New York.

In a 71-page report, the human rights group has accused the department of failing to provide adequate care to immigrant detainees with HIV, and putting their health and lives at risk.

The group says the Department of Homeland Security has denied, delayed or interrupted treatment for HIV-positive detainees in immigration custody.

The report says the department's detention guidelines for people with HIV/AIDS fails to meet national and international standards for appropriate care and the agency does little to enforce its own minimal standards.

According to the report if standards for medical care, internal oversight and accountability to the public are not improved immigrant detainees with HIV/AIDS will continue to needlessly suffer, and in some cases, die in U.S. immigration detention.

The report offers detailed accounts of the treatment of several people who either died or became resistant to AIDS drugs and received incomplete dosages; most were not identified by their full names.

According to Rebecca Schleifer of the Human Rights Watch, through to April 2007 there were 47 detainees with HIV in facilities run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, a division of the Homeland Security Department.

Other detainees were held in other facilities such as local jails and regional centers, where the government does not track the number of people with HIV.

ICE says it provides excellent care to the detainees in their custody, which is a priority costing more than $100 million each year.

Of the 300,000 people ICE processes each year a quarter are diagnosed with chronic health problems and many only learn about them only when ICE doctors inform them.

There are eight facilities run by customs officers, seven run by private contractors and about 400 local and state facilities such as jails.

The Human Rights Watch report is calling on the government to increase the number of facility inspections, revise medical standards for detainee care, enhance protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV-positive detainees and increase access to HIV testing.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has also criticized the Department of Homeland Security for its 'callous disregard for the health and well-being of people living with HIV/AIDS in its care'.

AHF has commended the Human Rights Watch for monitoring the treatment of immigrants living with HIV/AIDS in the government's custody and for bringing the issue to light.

AHF says government-run institutions such as jails, prisons and detention centers have an obligation to provide medical care to those in their charge.

AHF is the largest non-profit HIV/AIDS healthcare provider in the U.S. and currently provides treatment, care and support services to more than 61,000 individuals in 19 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia.