Democrats in Congress who witnessed the opening of Florida’s new immigration detention facility, Alligator Alcatraz, reported seeing dozens of people squabbling for help in metal enclosures, bugs and mosquitoes in bunk areas, and high temperatures above 80 degrees inside.
Republicans who also toured the facility tell a different story, describing the space as safe, clean and well-run. The state-run Alligator Alcatraz’s description of the conditions at the state-run facility has been called “false by the federal Homeland Security Department,” which regulates immigration detention.
During a July 13 interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem was questioned about Democrats’ accounts. She said the Florida-run facility is “held to the highest levels of what the federal government requires for detention facilities”.
Noem claimed that “our detention facilities at the federal level are held to a higher standard than the majority of our local or state centers or even federal prisons.” The requirements are “extremely high.”
White House border tsar Tom Homan also touted the nation’s immigration detention standards as being a cut above those for prisons and jails.
Homan defended federal facilities when a reporter inquired about a 75-year-old Cuban man who had spent 60 years living in the US before passing away in Miami in June.
He continued, “People die in immigration and customs enforcement] custody,” before claiming that ICE has “the highest detention standards in the industry.” I’ll compare an ICE detention facility against any state prison against any federal facility. Any of them will have me compete. People complain that the detention facilities are “horrible.” Go look for yourself then come back and talk to me”.
Nearly six months into Trump’s second term, Isidro Perez was the 11th person to pass away in ICE custody. During his final year in office, former president Joe Biden passed away in 12 deaths.
ICE detention centres have standards akin to prisons. For a few reasons, it’s difficult to compare blanket judgments about the standards of immigration detention to those in state, local, or other federal facilities.
- It’s challenging to enforce ICE detention standards because they aren’t legally codified.
- Different ICE detention centres are upheld to different standards based on the terms of their individual contracts.
- There are no set of guidelines for local, state, and federal prisons and jails. Some standards must be codified into law, while others are not.
Several government watchdog agencies, advocacy organisations and news reports have long documented inadequate conditions at immigration detention centres.
At an El Paso detention center, the human rights organization Amnesty International reported “physical abuse by guards, use of solitary confinement, unsanitary and overcrowded living conditions, including dysfunctional toilets, insufficient medical care, and poor-quality, expired food.”
Homan’s statement was described as “very misleading,” according to Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein, an associate professor at Duke University who studies the health effects of the criminal justice system.
“In most respects, ICE facilities operate with less consistent oversight and legal accountability than state or federal prisons or local jails”, Brinkley-Rubinstein said. “ICE detention facilities and the people who run them generally have a much lower level of transparency about their operations.”
Detention standards are established by ICE, but they are not standardized or widely used.
Several federal agencies and private companies run immigration detention facilities. All of its detention centers are required to adhere to standards set by ICE, the main organization charged with detained immigration.
For instance, facilities must have potable water and be sanitary. Detainees must have access to medical and mental healthcare, including getting prescription medications. Only when necessary and reasonable circumstances call for physical force, not as punishment. Additionally, attorneys must be able to speak with detainees in secret.
There are different sets of standards for facilities that hold immigrant detainees and other non-immigration-related detainees, such as local prisons, and for facilities that exclusively hold immigrants.
According to University of Michigan law professor Margo Schlanger, the standards for centers that also house non-immigrant detainees were based on “the most stripped down version of jail standards” and were based on “jail standards in use by many jails.”
What standards does Alligator Alcatraz adhere to, it’s unclear. The centre is state-run even though courts have repeatedly held that immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. However, an ICE official, Thomas P. Giles, claimed in a court declaration that the agency had “toured the facility to ensure compliance with ICE detention standards.”
There is no timing coordination between updates to ICE standards and those to other facilities, even though both sets of immigration standards are periodically updated. Standards are individually negotiated and implemented in separate contracts leading “to varying degrees of protection across detention facilities”, a 2021 Harvard Law Review article about immigration detention said.
Detention standards are difficult to enforce because they are not codified into law. One immigration expert claimed that because the industry is largely self-regulated, detainees’ complaints about the facilities’ conditions have little legal backing.
“Standards are often merely guidelines and largely unenforceable. They are stiff and frail, according to Mount Holyoke College professor David Hernández, who has a background in detention and deportation policy. “Very few facilities lose their contracts because detainees die or other things go wrong.”
Government watchdogs, nonprofit organisation, news reports detail inadequate conditions at detention centres
Detention centers are largely governed by the Homeland Security Department’s responsibility for ensuring compliance with ICE standards. Government watchdog organizations and advocacy groups have questioned the viability of these investigations for years, citing a number of instances of facilities breaking ICE standards.
In 2020, Congress created the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman to conduct unauthorised investigations of detention centres and to allow immigrants to file individual complaints for the office to review.
The Trump administration attempted to close the office in March. The administration was sued by a civil rights organization. In response, DHS said in a declaration that the office would stay open but with a smaller staff. According to immigration experts, this decision severely limits the control of detention facilities.
Overcrowding and inadequate immigration detention conditions have been raised by news outlets and advocacy groups. The Trump administration is currently detaining , about 60, 000 people – , that’s 20, 000 more people than it has , congressional funding , to detain.
According to the external reports, detainees in various locations are denied medical attention, put in solitary confinement after complaining about conditions, denied legal assistance, and targeted because they are Venezuelan. Stacy Brustin, a professor of immigration law at Catholic University, called these “mirror accounts” that she and her students had witnessed while visiting various detention facilities.
“We heard shocking descriptions of overcrowding, sewage leaks, inoperable toilets, water running down cell block walls, insufficient access to water, spoiled or inedible food, inability to move freely in cell blocks for prolonged periods, and substandard medical care for individuals with serious, life-threatening conditions”, Brustin said. These conditions go against ICE detention guidelines.
For instance, according to ICE standards, facilities must offer detainees “a nutritionally balanced diet that is prepared and presented in a sanitary and hygienic manner.” Spoiled food is a violation.
differences between prison and ICE detention
Some states have codified requirements for the detention facilities, while others do not. Some facilities are accredited by the American Correctional Association, which has its own set of , standards.
The 8th Amendment, which forbids “cruel and unusual punishments” in criminal cases, and the 14th Amendment, which protects people from being denied “life, liberty, or property, without a due process of law, must be adhered to by all facilities in the US Constitution. Additionally, prisoners’ access to religious facilities, prisoners’ rights to privacy, and people with disabilities must abide by federal laws governing sexual violence and prisoners’ rights.
“Courts have ruled that people who are incarcerated in these facilities have the right to care, safety, and humane treatment”, Brinkley-Rubinstein said.
Prison and jail standards typically include provisions similar to those for immigration detention, such as having access to legal and medical facilities, and other requirements.
Depending on the facility, oversight practices also vary. Some places are subject to independent oversight, others rely only on internal oversight.
Prisons and jails that don’t uphold standards also have a variety of consequences.
According to Andrea Armstrong, a professor and expert on prison conditions at Loyola University New Orleans, “the judge may require regular reports, appoint an independent monitor, a manager, or even a receiver to operate all aspects of the facility.”
Some places may lose their contracts depending on the severity of the situation, Schlanger said. Facilities may be subject to legal action in other circumstances.
Immigration laws apply to legal requests from immigrants who contend that detention facilities don’t uphold their standards. That’s because immigration detention is a civil rather than criminal form of detention.
