A U.N. expert says the United States fails to protect migrants’ rights. Jorge Bustamante visited San Diego on his nationwide fact finding mission last spring. He presented his report in Geneva Friday.
Bustamante’s report focuses in large part on problems with detention and deportation.
He says it’s not uncommon for migrants to be detained indefinitely.
Bustamante says detainees sometimes spend days in solitary confinement. Bright lights shine all day and night. And, he says, cells are often extremely hot or cold.
Government officials cancelled two visits Bustamante had planned to two detention centers that had recently come under fire.
Bustamante says mandatory detention must be stopped.
He further recommends the government create a federal institute that's sole mandate is migrants’ human rights.
U.S. government officials are disappointed by the report. They say it focuses on just a narrow slice of the migrant population.
They say the report also contains misstatements and misinterprets U.S. law.
Amy Isackson, KPBS News.
