Biden urged to deliver on pledge to end private ICE prisons after abuse allegations.
A Call to End Abuses in Immigration Detention Centers
A report detailing the horrifying abuses suffered by illegal immigrants in federal custody has sparked outrage among advocates, who are now urging President Joe Biden to fulfill his promise of ending privately operated United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers.
According to an NPR report released this week, immigrants under federal watch have endured severe medical neglect, mental trauma, and physical abuse. Immigration lawyers and civil rights groups are furious with the Biden administration for allowing these atrocities to continue.
“They uncovered through FOIA damning evidence of the severe medical neglect that occurs in ICE detention centers, most of which are run by private prisons or are contracted-out county jails,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director for the American Immigration Council in Washington, in a statement on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Currently, ICE operates over 200 detention centers and contracts with local jails to house immigrants. As of mid-August, more than 115 facilities held a total of 29,731 people. Shockingly, over 90% of detainees were in privately run facilities, a significant increase from the 80% during the Trump administration.
The profits of leading contractor, the GEO Group, have also soared, with the company making over $1 billion in 2022, according to financial disclosures.
During the Trump administration, experts hired by the government conducted internal audits of ICE detention centers and contracted local jails across 16 states. These audits revealed egregious conditions, including cases where individuals were returned to general population areas after surgery, despite having surgical drains and open wounds.
Advocates for immigrant rights are not only frustrated with the ongoing abuses but also with President Biden’s failure to follow through on his promise to end partnerships with for-profit companies operating ICE’s detention centers.
“No business should profit from the suffering of desperate people fleeing violence,” Biden said on the campaign trail in 2020.
While Biden did issue an executive order to stop contracts with for-profit companies running the Justice Department’s Bureau of Prisons, he did not extend this order to immigration jails. This lack of action has left many immigrant advocacy groups disappointed.
The National Immigration Project, in a report assessing Biden’s promises on immigration, gave him a yellow score, indicating that he has fallen short of his commitment to end partnerships with for-profit companies.
Some organizations, such as the National Immigrant Justice Center, are calling for the Biden administration to go even further and “end detention now.”
Despite the mounting evidence of abuses and the calls for change, the government continues to defend the detention system. A DHS official stated that ICE prioritizes detaining individuals who pose a public safety or national security threat, and that keeping facilities open is beneficial for immigrants in detention.
However, critics argue that the closure of detention centers would not only address the abuses but also allow detainees to be closer to their attorneys, families, and communities.
While the Biden administration has failed to fulfill its promise to end for-profit detention centers, it is moving forward with plans to build a massive new headquarters for ICE in Washington, D.C.
As the debate over immigration detention continues, it is clear that urgent action is needed to address the abuses and ensure the humane treatment of all individuals in custody.
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