The 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act
The 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act expanded the criteria for detention and eventual deportation. As a result, the number of detainees in the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) rose phenomenally from daily average of 6,700 detainees per day in1995 to 20,000 per day in September 2000.
This led to congestion in the INS detention facilities. More than half of the detainees who could not be accommodated in the INS detention facilities due to dearth of space were lodged in prisons with criminal inmates. This is in gross violation of administrative detainee status of the INS detainees. Asylum seekers were also lodged in prisons in breach of international norms. Even unaccompanied children before release to their family or appropriate guardian were confined at a stretch in juvenile detention centers and county jails instead of minimal restrictive as per international norms settings appropriate for children. he patients are not taken kindly by the courts and are likely to be construed against the doctor or hospital authorities.
