Humane standards must apply

Humane standards must apply

Houston Chronicle, on the Chinese engineer who died in U.S. custody: He had lived half his life in America, peacefully making his way through community college, a job as a computer engineer, marrying a citizen.

But when Chinese national Hiu Lui Ng was detained last summer for overstaying his visa, immigration officials treated him with a cruelty unacceptable even for suspects at Guantanamo.

Legislative response

Lawmakers now are calling for a federal investigation. But they also need to pass pending legislation creating mandatory standards for health care in immigration custody.

Sponsored by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., the bill does not demand special treatment for detained immigrants.

It does acknowledge that even for those we want to deport, human rights and American standards must apply.

This spring alone, at least two other immigrants a Salvadoran with cancer and a Guinean with a fractured skull and brain hemorrhages were repeatedly denied medical attention.

As much as our legal system and social services network, the way America treats noncitizens broadcasts the rules that govern our culture.

The tormenting of Hiu Lui Ng defiles the standards of the nation that Homeland Security is charged to protect.