Defendants' policy and practice of shackling all detained immigrants for immigration court proceedings causes detainees to suffer physical and emotional pain, is dehumanizing, and undermines the dignity of court proceedings. It also hinders detainees' ability to communicate with their attorneys. ... Freedom from physical restraint has always been recognized as a fundamental constitutional right, requiring due process before it can be infringed.

The US Supreme Court [official website] ruled in 2005 that it is unconstitutional [JURIST report] to force capital murder defendants to appear before juries in shackles. The majority said that viewing a prisoner in shackles would be too damaging to the jury's perception of the defendant. ICE and DHS have previously faced criticism for their treatment of immigration detainees. In March, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights [official website] reported that US immigration enforcement agencies are overly reliant on a flawed detention system [JURIST report]. The report expresses concern over increased use of detention by the US government, citing a doubling in detention of non-citizens by ICE. It criticized the US government for viewing detention as a necessity and not as an exception in its enforcement.