Plight of mentally ill detainees detailed

“No one knows what to do with detainees with mental disabilities, so every part of the immigration system has abdicated responsibility,’’ said Sarah Mehta, the report’s lead author. “The result is people languishing in detention for years while their legal files — and their lives — are transferred around or put on indefinite hold.’’

The federal agencies involved in the deportation system are well aware of many of the problems cited in the report, and Mehta said she has been cautiously encouraged by some recent steps to better handle people with mental disabilities.

For example, the Justice Department’s Executive Office of Immigration Review expanded its guidebook for immigration judges this year to include a section on mental health issues, is producing a training video covering similar ground, and created a new post of “assistant chief immigration judge for vulnerable populations.’’

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency which arrests and detains people facing deportation, will host a national forum in September seeking input from mental health experts on ways to improve its practices.