CW: Ableism & Eugenics
Disabled people face many challenges while trying to immigrate to the US. Their needs are often ignored. The denial of disabled people’s rights before and during the immigration process requires heightened awareness and action.
34 years ago, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) was signed into law. It was subsequently amended in 2008 to state that disabled people—whether their disability is congenital (being born with a disability), acquired (getting a disability later in life), or perceived—should be provided the same rights and opportunities as nondisabled people. Yet, there has been little attention paid to how the ADA and other disability civil rights protections can be combined with other areas of law to protect multi-marginalized populations such as disabled asylum-seekers.
Poor, disabled immigrants have historically experienced heightened scrutiny in U.S. immigration law and policy. The Immigration Act of 1891, which transferred immigration enforcement to the federal government, founded the Office of the Superintendent of Immigration, renamed the Bureau of Immigration in 1895.
The office created specific policies that targeted poor, nonwhite, and disabled immigrants, utilizing eugenic beliefs by requiring physical, medical, and intelligence testing that penalized disabled people. These policies were implemented as individuals entered the United States through Ellis Island and Angel Island.
In a 1915 article, Howard Knox, the assistant surgeon at the U.S. Public Health Service at Ellis Island, explained why the service used puzzles to assess intelligence: “The purpose of our mental measuring scale at Ellis Island is the sorting out of those immigrants who may, because of their mental make-up, become a burden to the State or who may produce offspring that will require care in prisons, asylums, or other institutions.”
Unfortunately, these attitudes persist today. In 2017, a 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy was detained by federal immigration authorities in Texas. She passed through a Border Patrol checkpoint. She was en route to a hospital for urgent gallbladder surgery.
Rosamaria Hernandez was brought over the border illegally to live in Laredo, Texas when she was three months old. She was transferred from a medical center in Laredo to a hospital in Corpus Christi. It was approximately 2 A.M on October 25, 2017. Border Patrol agents stopped the ambulance she was riding in.
The family said the agents permitted her to proceed to Driscoll Children’s Hospital. However, they followed the ambulance the rest of the way there. Subsequently, they stood outside her room until she was released.
Hernandez’s parents fought to have her released. Federal officials released Hernandez on November 3. Eleven days after her ordeal began.
Disabled asylum seekers face additional challenges. Asylum applicants are fleeing persecution due to war, violence, or conflict. In addition to seeking protection based on race, religion, nationality, and political opinion, disabled asylum seekers may also seek protection based on disability-related persecution. To do so, individuals must demonstrate that they meet the legal requirements for having a “well-founded fear of persecution” due to their “membership of a particular social group.”
Many asylum seekers are forced to embark on treacherous journeys in search of safety. The risks are often greater for disabled asylum seekers. Asylum seekers, for example, may rely on predatory smugglers to enter the United States. Border Patrol officers rescued two disabled Hondurans from the Rio Grande River in 2019.
Asylum seekers have the right to remain in the United States while their claims are processed, but they do not have the right to be released from immigration custody during that period. This can have serious implications for disabled asylum seekers, who may experience discrimination in detention.
Although the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is required to comply with Section 504 and the ADA (depending on the kind of detention facility) by developing disability access plans for each of its departments, implementing such plans remains a serious challenge. Because there are no well-funded, proactive enforcement mechanisms under the ADA or Section 504, disabled asylum-seekers who face discrimination and ableism must resort to costly litigation to obtain accommodations and legal protections.
A Disability Rights California investigation of the Otay Mesa Detention Center discovered that ICE lacked resources for disabled asylum-seekers and immigrants to obtain accommodations. In another case, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) discovered that ICE completely ignored accommodation requests.
According to the investigation, Fabian Vazquez, an immigrant with a hearing disability incarcerated at the Aurora Contract Detention Facility, had to wait months for ICE to supply him with hearing aids, despite seeking them as soon as he arrived. During this time, he was unable to connect with his lawyer. Furthermore, the ACLU discovered that ICE authorities forced Vazquez to take visits in a loud area, essentially preventing him from talking to his friends and family.
A Human Rights Watch investigation at the Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana discovered that Manuel Amaya Portillo, a Honduran asylum seeker, was denied access to a wheelchair due to his disability and had to rely on other detainees to use the shower, toilet, and sink. According to the report, on the day when inspectors toured the facilities and interviewed detainees, Portillo was segregated in a small room and given sedatives without his knowledge.
There are numerous opportunities for disability and immigration advocates to collaborate and learn from one another. The United States of America has long been considered the land of opportunity for many immigrants. Disabled immigrants deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.
Sources:
“Biden Administration Policies Lock Up Asylum Seekers.” Human Rights First, Human Rights First, 21 Apr. 2022, humanrightsfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ImaPrisonerHere.pdf.
Bateman-House, Alison, and Amy Fairchild. ‘Medical Examination of Immigrants at Ellis Island’. AMA Journal of Ethics, vol. 10, no. 4, American Medical Association, 2008, pp. 235–241.
“Eugenics and Scientific Racism.” The National Human Genome Research Institute, The National Institute of Health, 18 May 2022, http://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/fact-sheets/Eugenics-and-Scientific-Racism.
Galusca, Roxana. “From Fictive Ability to National Identity: Disability, Medical Inspection, and Public Health Regulations on Ellis Island.” Cultural Critique, no. 72, 2009, pp. 137–63. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25619827. Accessed 12 Nov. 2024.
Ives-Rublee, Mia, et al. “Crossing the Border: How Disability Civil Rights Protections Can Include Disabled Asylum-Seekers.” Center for American Progress, Center for American Progress, 25 Aug. 2022, http://www.americanprogress.org/article/crossing-the-border-how-disability-civil-rights-protections-can-include-disabled-asylum-seekers/.
Kim, Sarah. “The Forgotten: Disabled and Detained at the Border.” Forbes, Forbes Media, 28 June 2019, http://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahkim/2019/06/28/immigrants-with-disabilities/.
Kaur, Mehak et al. “Self-reported Disability Among Recently Resettled Refugees in the United States: Results from the National Annual Survey of Refugees.” Journal of immigrant and minority health vol. 26,3 (2024): 434-442.
Knox, Howard A. “Measuring Human Intelligence.” Scientific American, vol. 112, no. 2, 1915, pp. 52–58. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26015490. Accessed 12 Nov. 2024.
“Otay Mesa Detention Center: Inhumane Conditions and the Harsh Realities of Ice’s Civil Detention System.” Disability Rights California , Disability Rights California, 17 Nov. 2020, http://www.disabilityrightsca.org/otay-mesa-detention-center-report.
Owen, Quinn. “New Allegations Pressure ICE to Release Immigrant Detainees.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 1 May 2020, abcnews.go.com/Politics/allegations-pressure-ice-release-immigrant-detainees/story?id=70451845.
Rosenthal, Eric, and Arlene S. Kanter. “The right of people with disabilities to asylum and protection from deportation on the grounds of persecution or torture related to their disability.” Human Rights Brief, April 2018, 20 Apr. 2018, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3171691.