Immigration

Inspector General Details Poor Conditions at ICE Detention Facilities

Written by SK Ashby

A report from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was totally unprepared to implement the Trump regime's zero tolerance immigration policy that led to automatic family separations, but there's a second report that details conditions at detention facilities.

The second report details routine violation of laws governing the detention of children, non-existent access to medical care, and suicide attempts.

By law, migrant children who are considered "unaccompanied" should be placed in the care of Health and Human Services within 72 hours, except in "exceptional circumstances."

But the watchdog report found that migrant children were routinely held at Border Patrol facilities for longer. Many were held in metal cages designed only for short-term detention. More than 800 children were held for longer than the three day limit at Border Patrol facilities in the Rio Grande Valley and El Paso sectors, according to the report, with one child held for 25 days. [...]

The Adelanto [California] detention facility, owned and operated by the GEO Group, Inc., houses nearly 2,000 immigrant detainees. During a May inspection, the OIG found nooses made out of sheets in detainee cells, overly restrictive segregation practices and inadequate medical care for detainees.

The report, separate from the one on family separation, highlighted the suicide of a detainee in March of 2017 after he was found hanging by bedsheets. In all, the report found at least seven attempted suicides at the facility. "ICE's lack of response to address this matter at the Adelanto Center shows a disregard for detainee health and safety," the report concluded.

The inspector general's office found one immigrant detainee whose teeth had fallen out because he never received dental care after years of waiting.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is complying with the inspector general's recommendation that they conduct a full review of their contracts with the GEO Group, a private prison company, but I am personally skeptical that anything will come of it.

I expect the GEO Group will get their act together for a brief period during the review and then proceed to treat the humans under their supervision like animals.

Private prisons should be illegal.