Like thousands of other people in 2006, Jose Franco was detained by immigration authorities. Most detainees are either deported to their country of origin or released after winning their right to remain in the United States. But this case took a different route. Mr. Franco has a mental disability. In many respects, he functions at the cognitive level of a small child: he cannot tell time and he doesn't know his own address. When he appeared in immigration court, he was told by the immigration judge that his deportation proceedings would be suspended until he could undergo a psychological evaluation. But when immigration officials refused to conduct the evaluation, Franco was lost in a loophole in our immigration detention system.
Without the required psychiatric evaluation, and without an attorney (people imprisoned in immigration detention don't have a right to an appointed attorney), Franco remained in immigration prison in Southern California for four years. He spent half of his twenties deprived of the company of his large extended family and the specialized medical care he had received at home, while literally nothing happened in his immigration case.
Franco's story is not unique; challenging the government's conduct in his case led the ACLU to uncover an entire class of individuals who have faced or are facing a similar predicament. We know that dozens of mentally incompetent people are currently imprisoned in immigration detention centers throughout the country. The Obama administration estimates that over a thousand people with serious mental illnesses remain trapped in immigration detention at any one time.
As shocking as that may seem, it's not surprising if you consider the Obama administration's inhumane record on immigration. The Obama administration has detained and deported immigrants at a greater rate than any previous administration -- over a million since he took office. He's on track to deport more people in four years than the Bush administration did in eight.
Ironically, the Obama administration has taken this draconian approach at a time when we can least afford it. Official estimates of the cost of ICE incarceration are $120 per day. American taxpayers may have paid up to $175,000 to incarcerate Franco for four years.
People with serious mental disabilities are uniquely vulnerable to being lost behind bars. Under rules that the Obama administration has continued to defend, immigration officials force people like Mr. Franco to defend themselves without an attorney, even though they may not even have the capacity to understand why they are detained.
Last week, a ray of hope shone through the murk of the immigration detention system. Representative Pete Stark (CA-13) introduced H.R. 3881, the Ensuring Mental Competence in Immigration Proceedings Act. The bill would give immigration judges the authority to order competency evaluations for detainees like Franco who may not be competent to represent themselves. It also makes clear that when a detainee is found not to be competent and doesn't have a lawyer, the judge should either dismiss his case or appoint an attorney.
Jose Franco's story led to a rare moment of unity between Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Senator Dick Durbin of Ohio during a Senate hearing in November. Senator Durbin seemed disgustedthat mentally ill people were being imprisoned for long periods of time.
"If we're going to take the responsibility of incarcerating them, we have a responsibility to treat them humanely," Durbin said.
Secretary Napolitano agreed. So do we.

Community Rights Campaign, Public Counsel, and the ACLU of Southern California applaud today’s decision by the Los Angeles County Education Coordinating Council to endorse the findings and recommendations from the multi-agency Student Attendance Task Force (SATF). The recommendations, which were unanimously endorsed by the SATF’s members, are a step forward for Los Angeles County, because they emphasize connecting students to resources to address the causes of attendance issues – rather than punitive approaches proven ineffective as the primary response to truancy or poor attendance. They call for significant reforms to every county agency that interacts with youth who struggle with attendance, including courts, police, and schools.
There are many reasons why students may be late or absent, and research shows that the only way consistently to improve attendance rates is through programs capable of assessing and addressing the specific reasons each child struggles to get to school. Yet there has been little coordination among the youth-serving agencies in Los Angeles and an over-reliance on punitive approaches that are simply incapable of addressing the individual circumstances that lead to truancy or chronic absence.
Our organizations have been working together for over two years to change the way Los Angeles enforces its daytime curfew law, which has resulted in new enforcement directives from the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles School Police Department, and we strongly support a motion by Councilmember Tony Cardenas to amend the City’s daytime curfew law.
“As participants on the SATF, we are pleased to be a part of a broad, diverse group of public agencies and community organizations, including school districts, the courts, and law enforcement, that are working together to develop and implement programs that are proven to be effective,” said David Sapp, Staff Attorney, ACLU of Southern California. “Like every other member of the SATF, our goal is to ensure that students are in school, receiving the services they need, so they can graduate with the skills to get a job or go to college. The ACLU, Public Counsel and the Community Rights Campaign look forward to working with the SATF to make the recommendations that were adopted today a reality for the youth of Los Angeles County.”
Read the recommendations.