By EFE
Immigration detention centres in California have been the scene of serious and persistent human rights abuses that have gone unresolved despite numerous complaints, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said on Wednesday.
An ACLU report released Wednesday found that detainees have faced “inhumane conditions,” medical neglect, harassment, sleep deprivation, abuse through solitary confinement, sexual assault, and “life-threatening” situations.
Detainees walk down a hallway at the Otay Mesa ICE Detention Center in San Diego on August 23, 2017.Associated Press
The findings were revealed after analyzing hundreds of complaints filed by detainees through the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) complaint system.
Although California’s six immigration detention centers are under the jurisdiction of the federal government, they are owned and operated by private corporations.
Maricela Sánchez, researcher at the ACLU of Northern California and author of the report, stated that “it is very clear that the Government cannot guarantee that its immigration detention centers comply with the non-negotiable human rights standards”.
The research, titled Resistance, Retaliation, Repression: Two Years in California Immigration Detention (Resistance, Retaliation, Repression: Two Years in California Immigration Detention Centers) found that prison facilities are not fit to hold people.
“The walls are rotten with mould, the ventilation systems spew out debris that interferes with people’s breathing, the food is often rotten and the water is rancid,” he said.
In addition, the records also show serious health care problems. For example, outbreaks of COVID-19 have been allowed to worsen and spread in the facilities.
On that issue, the report noted that ICE allows people with chronic illnesses to languish without medical care for months or years. If an appointment is made, follow-up is sporadic. Center staff often leave prescriptions unfilled or ignore recommended treatment.
[El parole humanitario podría ser restablecido pese a sospecha de fraude masivo]
He said ICE similarly allows potentially deadly COVID outbreaks to fester and spread. HIV-positive people are often kept in rooms with others who are not yet infected. And if someone does contract the virus, ICE has refused to provide them with Paxlovid or other medications that alleviate symptoms and minimize the danger of serious complications.
In addition, ICE is not evaluating complaints filed by immigrants. A review of 485 complaint records filed since 2023 showed that only 8% of them were resolved in favor of the detained persons.
Immigrants who raise these concerns are told to file a complaint with ICE, which will supposedly review it and determine if it is meritorious. But a review of more than 480 records of complaints filed since 2023 shows that 71% were unfounded or rejected and nearly 21% [de los casos] It was closed, there was no decision, [era] unknown or had an unclear resolution. Based on the data, ICE says only 39 of the 485 complaints were substantiated, the report said.
More than 100 complaints shared with the ACLU were related to Staff retaliation and misconductThe records also show numerous incidents of unnecessary inspections and punishments.
[Cerca de 30,000 familias migrantes recibieron avisos para desalojar albergues en Nueva York]
The report was released just as detainees at the Golden State Annex facility in the McFarland area resumed a hunger strike over mistreatment after ICE ended a program providing them with free, direct legal phone calls, guaranteed by an earlier ACLU lawsuit.
“I have spent 30 months in ICE immigration detention and have participated in multiple hunger strikes and labor strikes. I have firsthand experience and witnessed abundant human rights violations at Golden State Annex,” said Gustavo Flores Coreas, one of the hunger strike leaders.
“After coming off a hunger strike and losing 19 pounds last week, I was placed in a dormitory where other people were infected with COVID-19“I am now in medical isolation. I am now in medical isolation infected with COVID-19. Unfortunately, these human rights violations are not abating. On the contrary, they are increasing at an alarming rate,” he said.
[Muertos de nadie: los restos de al menos 1,500 inmigrantes aguardan en morgues de la frontera]
“We stand together in unison, with one voice, for a common cause: to end ICE detentions at the Mesa Verde and Golden State Annex facilities, to raise awareness about the inhumane conditions and treatment,” said Juan Carlos Corona Avalos, another hunger strike leader.
With information from EFE
