A colleague and I recently led a team of law students to New Mexico to provide legal assistance to individuals detained at the Torrance and Cibola immigration detention facilities. While we expected detention conditions to be rough, we were not prepared for the reports we heard of inhumane living conditions, lack of medical care, intimidation from guards, and isolation.
We knew that many of those detained were eligible for temporary release known as humanitarian parole. So, we spent the week preparing parole requests. Only after did we learn that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has decided to deny all release requests, regardless of individual medical conditions and despite overcrowding. It became clear that rather than using legal means to release individuals posing no threat to the community and likely to show up for pending hearings, ICE is intent on encouraging self-deportation.
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We spent our first day at Torrance conducting interviews with individuals who had been detained from weeks to many months. Most wore blue jumpsuits, signaling prison officials’ determination that these men posed little threat or risk of escape. Some had recently arrived to the U.S., though many had long been living with their families in New Jersey and Massachusetts until ICE agents detained them and transferred them to Torrance, a facility notorious for its history of sub-standard conditions.
ICE insists that its detention centers and the contractors that run them, such as Core Civic which operates Torrance and Cibola, adhere to national standards and are “non-punitive.” Yet, the triple razor wired, security laden facility, and the harsh conditions suggest otherwise. One by one the individuals we met, some in tears, described overcrowded cell blocks with some sleeping on concrete floors, sewage leaks, water running down cell walls, malfunctioning toilets that did not flush, lack of access to water, and inadequate or inedible food. The men described “counts” occurring five or so times per day during which the entire facility was locked down and guards prohibited anyone from leaving their cells until the count was completed. As a result, the men were unable to move freely in their blocks for prolonged periods of time, despite most having been classified as low risk.
The most distressing condition was the sub-standard medical care. We interviewed individuals who had life-threatening medical conditions and were not receiving the care they needed. One individual had clear evidence of a traumatic brain injury incurred as a result of beatings in his home country, yet he reported not having been seen by a neurologist for treatment. Another had Type 2 diabetes and was not receiving the food or monitoring he needed to avoid dangerous spikes in his sugar levels. At one point his sugar surged so high that he fell into a life-threatening diabetic coma and had to be rushed to the hospital by ambulance for emergency medical attention. The conditions are so bad that detained individuals have resorted to hunger strikes and at least one person has attempted suicide since our visit.
The Immigration and Nationality Act and federal regulations authorize ICE officials to temporarily release individuals when there are humanitarian reasons to do so, or when it would be in the public interest. The person must not be a danger to the community and must be likely to appear for upcoming hearings. ICE can use alternatives to detention such as required check-ins and tracking devices to ensure compliance. Federal law and ICE’s own policy specifically mention urgent medical needs as a reason for granting parole, so we were particularly confident that those with threatening medical conditions would quickly be released. We were wrong.
We worked with clients who met the key requirements: 1) asylum officers had already determined they had a credible fear of persecution in their home countries and right to a full hearing, giving them a strong incentive to appear in immigration court, 2) they had no criminal histories so posed no danger, 3) they had a U.S. citizen or permanent U.S. resident sponsor agreeing to support them, and 4) several suffered from serious medical conditions requiring immediate treatment.
We submitted 15 or so release petitions, and to date ICE has denied all of them. We have seen written confirmation that ICE intends to deny parole release requests, regardless of the strength of the case. This is inhumane and unlawful. Rather than releasing nonviolent individuals who have every incentive to show up at their hearings, the Trump administration is locking them up indefinitely in poor conditions, hoping they will become so desperate that they will ask to be deported rather than exercise their right to seek protection in immigration court.
And to top it off, U.S. taxpayers are footing the bill for this costly and unnecessary detention to the tune of $164.65 per day per adult. Profits from these payments are going straight to private prison companies such as Core Civic and their shareholders. And things are only getting more expensive for taxpayers. The administration recently announced plans to spend $45 billion more on immigration detention over the next two years, expanding the cost six fold.
The substandard detention conditions and complete dismantling of humanitarian release are counter to current law, inhumane, and expensive. This must end.
Stacy L. Brustin is professor of law emerita and director of the Immigration Law & Policy Initiative at The Catholic University of America.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
