For the past several decades, asylum seekers at the U.S. border and in detention facilities throughout the country have endured pervasive human rights violations, including family separation, removal to Mexico, inhumane detention conditions, neglectful medical care, sexual violence and physical abuse, forced deportation in violation of non-refoulement principles, reproductive injustice, and numerous other egregious abuses. When President Biden assumed office in January 2021, he committed to restoring human rights conditions and addressing many abuses perpetrated against asylum seekers. This Note examines why the Biden administration should establish a truth commission to rigorously investigate, document, and acknowledge the range of human rights abuses committed against immigrants seeking asylum in the United States, and will discuss how a truth commission could serve a vital role in seeking truth, justice, reparations, and institutional reforms. Drawing on both theory and practical examples from international truth commissions, this Note argues that the Biden administration should adopt a truth commission in order to investigate and establish the full scope of these pervasive abuses; formally acknowledge immigrant survivors’ experiences and support survivor empowerment; recommend reparations for survivors; and propose institutional reforms to prevent future abuses against those seeking asylum.

Continue reading Human Rights in Our Backyard: Utilizing a Truth Commission and Principles of Transitional Justice to Address Atrocities Committed Against Asylum Seekers in the United States