By candlelight, religious groups call for immigration reform
Every year, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detains hundreds of thousands of men and women found living and working in the United States in violation of immigration and visa laws. Detainees are confined as if prison even though they have not been charged with any crime. Conditions in I.C.E.'s over 300 detention centers have been criticized by national and international watchdog groups, including Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union.
On a bitterly cold evening this December, human rights activists and religious believers from a variety of traditions gathered outside a federal detention facility in New York City. They held candles and called for the US government to release the people locked up inside.
Opponents of amnesty for illegal immigrants say that no violation of US law should be tolerated, but these protesters see a larger moral issue at stake. They say that the detention centers, where people are held without charge and dozens have died of medical neglect, violate detainees' fundamental human rights.