Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2017
ISSN
0042-6229
Publisher
Villanova University School of Law
Language
en-US
Abstract
This article examines the burgeoning mental competency regime in immigration removal proceedings, as well as its shortcomings. While some strides have been made in the last six years to identify noncitizen detainees who are incompetent, and to implement safeguards, including appointed counsel, to protect their rights, the current mental competency framework fails to protect some of the most vulnerable. Specifically, this article explains that mentally incompetent, noncitizen detainees for whom no adequate safeguards are available, face a kind of shadow, prolonged and potentially indefinite detention. These detainees’ continued detention is wholly without process – despite their incompetence, they are not provided with meaningful opportunities to request release from custody to seek treatment, nor are there any concerted efforts to either restore or rehabilitate their competency. As a result, I argue that this group of noncitizen detainees is denied meaningful access to the court system in violation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. This article proposes a regulatory change to ensure compliance with the Rehabilitation Act and further explores why alternative solutions are unreliable, inefficient or implausible.
Recommended Citation
Sarah R. Sherman-Stokes,
No Restoration, No Rehabilitation: Shadow Detention of Mentally Incompetent Noncitizens
,
in
62
Villanova Law Review
787
(2017).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/256
Comments
Boston University School of Law Immigrant’s Rights Clinic Paper No. 18-11