Asylum seekers who are fleeing human rights abuses often encounter more violations of their human rights once they arrive in the United States.

Junaid Afeef, interim director of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, speaks about the breakdown of the immigrant detention system that led to the death of detainee Hassiba Belbachir in 2005 in a Chicago-area county jail. His talk was part of a panel on immigrant detention held in conjunction with a special Chicago film screening of "The Visitor" in October 2008. The event was presented by Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center and the Midwest Coalition for Human Rights as part of the City of Chicago's Immigrant & Refugee Week and in partnership with Active Voice. For more information, visit www.immigrantjustice.org, www.midwesthumanrights.org, and activevoice.net/thevisitor

Rashed Binrashed was 19 years old when he came alone to the United States to escape persecution following a civil war in his native country of Yemen. Several years later, as the result of some bad legal advice he received during the asylum process, he was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. For more than two and a half years, Rashed was held at three different county jails near Chicago. In this video, Binrashed speaks about his experience in detention and the need for fair and humane reform of the immigrant detention system. His talk was part of a panel discussion held in conjunction with a special Chicago screening of the film "The Visitor" in October 2008, presented by Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center and the Midwest Coalition for Human Rights as part of the City of Chicago's Immigrant & Refugee Week and in partnership with Active Voice. For more information, visit www.immigrantjustice.org, www.midwesthumanrights.org, and www.activevoice.net/thevisitor.

Lawyer Colby Kingsbury fought for two and a half years for the release of her client from immigrant detention. In this video she speaks about the experience and about the importance of access to counsel for detained immigrants. Her talk was part of a panel discussion on immigrant detention held in conjunction with a special Chicago film screening of "The Visitor," presented by Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center and the Midwest Coalition for Human Rights as part of the City of Chicago's Immigrant & Refugee Week and in partnership with Active Voice. For more information, visit www.immigrantjustice.org, www.midwesthumanrights.org, and activevoice.net/thevisitor.

Attorney Tara Magner, policy director for the National Immigrant Justice Center, speaks about the need for humane immigration reform and protection of due process and human rights for detained immigrants. Her talk was part of a panel discussion on the immigrant detention system held in conjunction with a special Chicago film screening of "The Visitor" in October 2008. The screening was presented by Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center and the Midwest Coalition for Human Rights as part of the City of Chicago's Immigrant & Refugee Week and in partnership with Active Voice. For more information, visit www.immigrantjustice.org, www.midwesthumanrights.org, and activevoice.net/thevisitor

On May 12, 2008, nearly 400 workers were arrested in an ICE raid on the Agriprocessors, Inc., meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa. In the following months, witnesses and news media reported a number of human rights and due process violations against the workers that took place at the plant and in the makeshift courtrooms set up by the U.S. government following the raid. On July 27, 2008, activists and people of faith from Iowa and across the country marched in Postville to show solidarity for the workers and their families and to call for fair and humane immigration reform.

In 2006, the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General found serious health and safety concerns at immigrant detention facilities and that detainees' requests for medical attention were often ignored.

In this video, a young woman from Pakistan who was detained by the Department of Homeland Security for nearly two years while she sought refugee protection in the United States describes her experience being locked up with violent inmates and trying to access medical care. When she discovered a lump in her shoulder, a jail nurse told her "it's just a fatty tumor" and the government refused her request to see a doctor to have it checked out.