Hiu Lui Ng

Hiu Lui Ng a.k.a Jason Ng was a 34 year old New Yorker that died on August 5 or 6, 2008 in the custody of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.cite news | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/nyregion/13detain.html?_r=2&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin | title=Ill and in Pain, Detainee Dies in U.S. Hands | author=Nina Bernstein | publisher=New York Times] The editors of the New York Times condemned the death, writing that Mr. Ng "paid the ultimate price for overstaying a visa, and getting lost in a sprawling system that some have likened to a gulag."cite news | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/opinion/17sun1.html | title=Mr. Ng’s Death | author=Editorial | publisher=New York Times | date=2008-08-16]

Ng came to New York from Hong Kong in 1992 at age 17. He went to college, became a computer engineer, married a United States citizen and fathered two American born sons. He entered United States legally but had overstayed a visa years ago. The government rejected his pleas for political asylum. He missed a court date in 2001 when the order was sent to a nonexistent address, and the judge ordered him deported when he did not show up at the hearing. His wife, a naturalized citizen, had petitioned to get him legal residency, but he was seized at his final green card interview on July 19, 2007 on the old deportation order.cite web | url=http://www.democracynow.org/2008/8/13/headlines | title=Cancer-Stricken Chinese National Dies in US Immigration Jail | publisher=Democracy Now]

While in immigration detention, Ng grew frail and complained for months of excruciating back pain. Officials at a Rhode Island detention center said it was all an act and denied him an independent medical evaluation. Lawyers finally persuaded a judge to insist on suitable medical treatment for Ng by petitioning for habeas corpus. When he finally saw a doctor, the diagnosis was terminal cancer and a broken spine. He died five days later. The State Medical Examiners office later declared that he died due to complications of metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma - liver cancer. [cite news | url=http://www.pawtuckettimes.com/content/view/49083/27/ | title=Inmate died of liver cancer | author=Vinaya Saksena | publisher=Pawtucket Times | date=September 21, 2008] His lawyers demanded a criminal investigation in a letter to federal and state prosecutors in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Prompted by the death, Congressman José Serrano wrote in an August 13, 2008 letter to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement: "there is a certain standard we should live up to for everyone we have detained and it is outrageous that anyone would be treated in such a fashion while in your custody." [cite news | url=http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/08/16/2008-08-16_immigration_and_customs_enforcement_cann.html | title=Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot dehumanize immigrants | author=Albor Ruiz | publisher=New York Daily News | date=2008-08-15] Members of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation requested a Homeland Security investigation into the death. [cite news | url=http://www.projo.com/news/content/IMMIGRANT_DEMONSTRATION_08-16-08_ATB85CG_v28.3e882e4.html | title=R.I. lawmakers seek federal probe into death | author=Karen Lee Ziner | publisher=Rhode Island news | date=2008-08-16]

In response to the case of Mr. Hiu Lui Ng and a Washington Post article that identified 30 questionable deaths out of a total of 83 detainee deaths in Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency custody between March 2003 (when the agency was created) and March 2008, Representative Zoe Lofgren (D. Cal) introduced the Detainee Basic Medical Bill ( [HR 5950] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/5252706/HR-5950] ) in the House and Senator Menendez introduced the bill ( [S 3005] [http://www.scribd.com/doc/5254998/Senate-Bill-S3005] ) in the Senate. The bill requires "the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish procedures for the timely and effective delivery of medical and mental health care to all immigration detainees in custody, and for other purposes." The House bill is currently being considered by the House Judiciary Committee. The House Bill was proposed by Representative Lofgren and supported in the House by Representatives Abercrombie, Conyers, Cuellar, Farr, Grijalva, Jackson-Lee, Kilpatrick, McDermott, Meek, Nadler, Roybal-Allard, Sanchez, Sestak, Sires, Solis, Velazquez. The Senate Bill was proposed by Senator Menendez and supported by Senators Akaka, Bingaman, Durbin, Kennedy, Kerry, and Lieberman.

External resources

* [http://www.scribd.com/doc/4796009/Hiu-Lui-Ng-Petition-for-Habaes-Corpus Hiu Lui Ng Petition for Habaes Corpus]
* Request for an Investigation into the death of Hiu Lui Ng [http://www.scribd.com/doc/5744171/Request-for-an-Investigation-into-the-death-of-Hiu-Lui-Ng]
* Affidavit of Mr Wong Prior to the Death of Hiu Lui Ng [http://www.scribd.com/doc/5745839/Affidavit-of-Mr-Wong-Prior-to-the-Death-of-Hiu-Lui-Ng]

References