DLU recognizes the inhumane approach of the US’s current system and knows that people can experience a disabling event when immigrating to the United States. Purportedly non-punitive immigration detention has long been problematic, with high rates of deaths and suicides in custody and widespread allegations of physical and sexual abuse and substandard medical and mental health care.
The detention system worsens people’s disabilities and can increase the risk of becoming disabled because it provides inadequate medical care, discriminates against people with disabilities, stigmatizes and exacerbates the mental health needs of detained people, and causes further trauma to a population that is already destabilized. DLU helps disabled people in this cruel system protect their human rights and aims to improve the immigration process for everyone.