Re:EMDR for PTSD plus serious mental disorder

I hope the poster will check back to see if there are further posts. I am a layman and came to this site to learn about EMDR. When I read this post about the Iranian I was stunned and immediately concerned about the terms of his confinement.

The poster's immediate concern is treating the man, but I urge you also to examine his immigration status and the appropriateness of it. I urge you to do this by contacting legal experts in politcal asylum to review the legal aspects of his status, including the legal status of his confinement and treatment.

Immigrants are the most under-served class in the American legal system and their rights chronically violated. The chance that he has been denied resources available to him are quite high, unless he has had the representation of a very comepetent lawyer specializing in political asylum.

One of the best resources is the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. They can refer you or even offer to review his case. His case should be reviewed in order to determine if all the resources available to him are being tapped.

This is highly relevant to his treatment because any improvement in his legal status will improve conditions for treatment too.

If he is in a forensic ward, did he committ a crime in the US or was he automatically detained by the US as an asylee and transferred to a mental health ward because he seemed mentally ill? This is an extremely important distinction which could result in his tranfer to a different treatment environment -- in other words, his confinement in a forensic ward could be illegal.

Those not familiar with immigration law often apply a common sense faith that the appropriate measures were taken when someone was placed in a certain status. They will dimiss this question as not their concern. Unfortunately, this can never be assumed in immigration where there is chronic abuse of rights.

What many don't realize is that immigrants pursuing immigration issues in court are not automatically granted legal respresentation, as in criminal courts. And criminal attorneys -- if indeed this man is being held as the result of a criminal act comitted here in the states -- are woefully ignorant of immigration consequences of the criminal procedures they are helping their clients with.

(I can' t tell you how many criminal attorneys have told me after botching their first case defending an immigrant accused of drug dealing or stealing a loaf of bread here, how they had no idea the immigration consequences of their decisions in the criminal defense and would have done it all differently if they had known.

The best political asylum attorneys are far more often than not associated with nonprofit organizations. Aside from the Lawyers Committee, some large bar associations -- such as the bar of the city of NY -- have immigration subcommittees and referrals from them also can help clients find the best asylum attorneys.

I also urge you to avoid simply calling a private practice immigration attorney. Without going into details, there are difficulties in this field.

As I said, it is immpossible to know from your post if he committed a crime and whether it was a violent crime or not. But I still urge you to please please please check to see if this man has a bonafide high-level asylum attorney and if not please on his behalf at least call the Lawyers Committee to run it by someone there, even anonymously, just to cover the bases. errors are so common in handling asylees it is irresponsible not to. My heart goes out to this man.

Replies:

Re:EMDR for PTSD plus serious mental disorder --Urgent Legal status of torture victims, by guest, 04/10/04 Resources for Torture Victims, by Sandra Paulsen PhD, 04/14/04

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