Immigration Coverup?

Looks as if the Immigration Department is playing
a game of hide and seek with potential witnesses
in a case involving the death of an inmate. After
you read the article below give us your take on
the issue.


Two civil rights groups have urged the Department of Homeland Security to investigate the death of a transgender inmate at a San Pedro immigration detention center on grounds that the 23-year-old with AIDS was denied vital medical treatment.

In a letter sent to the department's Office of Inspector General on Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and New York-based Human Rights Watch also called for an inquiry into the apparent transfer to other immigration facilities of more than 20 detainees who saw the events leading up to the death of Victor Arellano on July 20.

The transfers, according to the organizations, occurred less than 24 hours before a Human Rights Watch official went to the San Pedro facility to interview some of the detainees.

Two of the witnesses were moved to an immigration facility in Texas, and the whereabouts of the others are unknown, the organizations said.

"The transfer of those witnesses not only affects their ability to defend themselves by disrupting access to family and legal counsel, but makes it more difficult to interview them for an investigation into Arellano's death," said Megan McLemore, the Human Rights Watch researcher.

She visited the facility on Aug. 22 and was one of the letter's authors. McLemore said she visited the San Pedro facility to interview two other HIV/AIDS patients and Arellano's cellmates as part of a report on medical care for such patients in detention.

But upon her arrival, she said, she discovered that more than 20 witnesses, all of whom had signed a petition protesting Arellano's treatment, had been transferred. Arellano's death has sparked an outcry among immigration rights officials and organizations that monitor the health of prisoners in federal and state facilities nationwide. About 30,000 illegal immigrants are in detention facilities throughout the country.

Two other unrelated deaths of detainees earlier this year triggered an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General into the quality of medical care at federal detention centers, a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles) confirmed Tuesday.





This Article Continues Here





Get your copy of the award winning King:
"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/