Detention Snapshot: Spring 2023
While the end of Title 42 took center-stage this spring, the termination of this unlawful asylum ban wasn’t the movement’s only victory this spring. Following sustained pressure from the national advocacy campaign led by Freedom for Immigrants, dozens of our partners including local detention visitation groups, and detained community members, we won the full reinstatement of social visitation to ICE detention facilities nationwide! See more info below.
Despite these critical victories, the movement faces more challenges ahead. As seen at both the border and immigration detention centers across the country, the Biden administration is pursuing harsh enforcement-based policies that mirror those of its predecessors. The end of Title 42 brought forth a slew of new asylum restrictions, and the number of people incarcerated by ICE has risen by nearly 9,000 people since Title 42 ended on May 11.
In this quarter’s Snapshot report, we’ll take a focused look at two individuals' experiences of harm in detention — and how they’ve fought back and resisted ICE’s abuse. Walderi Leite’s and Daniel Alfredo Cortes De La Valle’s stories underscore how advocates inside and outside of detention continue to organize for basic needs, humane treatment, and release from detention. Resistance to the abuse individuals face daily was highlighted on a mass scale in early March, when an estimated 300 individuals waged a hunger strike in the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center, located in Jena, Louisiana. Organizers, including Cortes De La Valle, cited lack of release and degrading conditions as central issues. See more information below.
Additionally, we’ll take a look at one of Biden’s new immigration policies that expands the detention system beyond physical detention centers and into communities and homes. ICE has begun expanding its Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP), and with it, its enforcement dragnet. In this instance, the focus will be on heads of households of families crossing the border. See more info below.
Complaints filed with the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties highlight continued human rights abuses
Civil Rights Complaint: Daniel’s fight for freedom amid sexual and medical abuse amounting to torture inside the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center (Jena, Louisiana)
In early 2023, Daniel Alfredo Cortes De La Valle began to experience sexual abuse, medical abuse amounting to torture, severe medical neglect, violent use of force, and verbal abuse related to his seizure condition.
When Daniel sought medical treatment for his deteriorating seizure condition and was later sexually assaulted by medical personnel, the traumatic incident led him to attempt suicide, which prompted further retaliation by officials. In March, medical staff at Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center, or Jena, drilled a hole into his tibia bone and injected seizure medication directly into his bone without consent or anesthesia, causing Daniel excruciating pain and lasting psychological distress that eventually led to suicidal ideation.
To fight for his rights and resist the abuse that he suffered, Daniel filed grievances via the formal processes in existence, including with the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL), the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), Office of Immigration Ombudsman (OIDO), ICE, and the GEO Group (the private prison company that operates Jena). But instead of obtaining relief, his advocacy was met with swift retaliation by ICE in the form of harassment and threats by staff, including medical providers.
Daniel is not alone in fighting back against these abuses. Individuals inside detention continuously raise attention to abuses with these oversight bodies, but most times end only in more retaliation. In the face of this inaction, people in detention turn to other forms of resistance and organize with others to demand humane treatment. In fact, Daniel continued his advocacy against the abuse he and others faced by undertaking multiple hunger strikes. He was joined by nearly 300 other individuals on one occasion.
In addition to the extreme abuse Daniel has endured, his family continues to experience hardship as well. Daniel has a wife, who is a US Citizen, and two children, also US citizens, aged 10 years old and 19 months old. Daniel’s wife and children continue to feel the suffering of Daniel’s absence. Daniel has missed precious time with his children, missing his son’s baptism, his first steps, and many other milestones in his growth. Meanwhile, his wife cannot make ends meet despite her working full-time, so his sister-in-law is helping her cover many expenses, even though she herself has a debilitating condition that makes it difficult to work.
Daniel with his son
Daniel's daughter, the 10-year-old, lives with her mother, Daniel’s former partner. While Daniel used to provide financial support monthly, he cannot continue to do so, as he is detained and unable to work. As a result, Daniel’s former partner is experiencing financial hardship and has to work two jobs to make ends meet.
There can be a world in which Daniel is free and able to be with his family and community, and able to access the healthcare he needs to treat ongoing health issues such as his seizures. A world in which the federal government is not spending billions — yes, billions! — of dollars to fund a system that is inevitably full of human rights abuses, and instead resources the real needs of communities.
FFI worked with Daniel to file this complaint alongside RFK Human Rights Center, Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention (LA-AID), Home is Here, Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity, and other organizations. As of June 16, Daniel remains in ICE detention without access to the critical medical care he needs, and his family continues to suffer on the outside.
Civil Rights Complaint: Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) neglect in ICE Custody at Moshannon Valley Correctional Facility (Pennsylvania) arising from Sexual Assault at Central Arizona Florence Correctional Complex (Arizona)
Freedom for Immigrants joined Juntos, a member organization of FFI’s National Visitation Network, in submitting a complaint in May 2023, on behalf of Walderi Leite, a Brazilian man who’s faced sexual assault in ICE detention. While the initial abuse took place in years prior, the sexual assault has never been appropriately investigated, violations of PREA are ongoing, and Walderi remains detained in Pennsylvania.
On February 24, 2023, Mr. Leite reported to Freedom for Immigrants’ National Immigration Detention Hotline that on December 25, 2021, he was sexually assaulted by a facility doctor during a health visit for high blood pressure. Mr. Leite was extremely psychologically distressed after the incident, which caused Mr. Leite to stop seeking medical attention for his high blood pressure. Two days later, Mr. Leite was asked to sign a document to be released from detention for six months, but no investigation into the sexual assault ever took place. In June 2022, Mr. Leite was re-detained by ICE without explanation and sent to Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania, cruelly separating Mr. Leite from his family and loved ones. The instances of abuse detailed in the May 2023 complaint document an egregious breach of Mr. Leite’s constitutional rights and demonstrate a clear failure on the part of officials to uphold ICE detention and PREA standards.
In addition to these ongoing violations, in November 2022, ICE posted on its public website the name, birthdate, nationality, and detention location of Mr. Leite, in addition to that of more than 6,000 immigrants who claimed to be fleeing torture and persecution. The unauthorized release of sensitive information of individuals in ICE detention who are seeking safety in the US violates confidentiality and endangers the lives of those exposed, as well as their loved ones.
Mr. Walderi is still detained, and he is still waiting for resolution of these PREA and confidentiality violations.
Movement win this quarter: Visitation for ICE detention reinstated!
Freedom for Immigrants has been working to reinstate visitation alongside advocates inside detention and community partners, including: California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, El Refugio, The Florence Project, Pangea Legal Services, Laredo Immigrant Alliance, Grassroots Leadership, and Guadalupe Presbyterian Church.
Visitation to immigration detention facilities was initially revoked three years ago at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbating many of the traumatizing effects of immigration detention, including prolonged isolation, severe mental health harms, and family separation. As the government began to loosen COVID-19 restrictions over the past year, ICE continued to block visits to detention centers. Our campaign organized for nearly two years to pressure the government to update its visitation policies, and last month, we won! In response to our campaign, ICE lifted the remaining visitation restrictions on May 11.
This is good news! Visitation to ICE detention centers is important for the well-being of individuals inside and for their loved ones outside. What’s more, community visitation plays a crucial role in helping us abolish immigration detention. The ability to monitor in-person allows us to document abuse in real-time while fostering community and organizing efforts. Visitation ultimately allows us to demonstrate that the only way to avoid abuse is by ending immigration detention altogether and building a world in which we are all free.
New guidelines in a nutshell:
Detention facilities are determined to have either “green” or “red” status for COVID-19. To check the most up-to-date status of each facility, click here.
If a facility is green: There are no restrictions to in-person visitation whatsoever.
If a facility is red: In-person visitation is still allowed, but the facility must follow certain criteria, like masking.
For more details and additional tools see our explainer in English and Spanish.
You can also watch and share the short explainer video (English playing above) in English and Spanish.
While visitation has been reinstated, it’s important that advocates and others make sure the new policies are respected by ICE officials. Individual ICE field offices often neglect guidance and policies from ICE headquarters that support community access to detention centers. For example, in May 2023, officials at Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana denied visitation despite receiving clear guidance to allow visitation. The violation was so clear that we filed a civil rights complaint alongside several partners including Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention and Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity.
Expansion of ICE ankle shackles to respond to the end of Title 42
Detention exists beyond the brick-and-mortar prisons many of us imagine when thinking about immigration detention. As our world becomes increasingly digital, ICE detention is no exception. Through surveillance technologies, ICE continues to expand its reach by digitizing immigration detention. While there are various sets of technologies used by ICE to create digital prisons, the one the administration plans to use for recently arrived families is the electronic ankle monitor, or ankle shackle.
In response to the end of Title 42, ICE announced on May 10 a way to process families apprehended at the Mexico-US border, called the Family Expedited Removal Management program (FERM). Among several details, the announcement states that heads of households will normally be placed on ankle shackles.
This program will result in increased and unnecessary suffering and the inability for families to get a fair chance at presenting their claim to asylum. In a 2021 report published by FFI and our partners, Immigration Cyber Prisons: Ending the Use of Electronic Ankle Shackles, over 70% of surveyed individuals reported that ankle shackles made it hard for them to take care of their family. It is hard enough to present and win an asylum case when a person has community support and an attorney; adding this additional burden and trauma to families who already face innumerable obstacles is cruel.
Our government can and must do better. There are humane ways to receive and welcome people seeking asylum. In the same report, legal service providers stated that when individuals are represented with legal counsel, 98% of individuals show up to court. And there is even further proof that surveillance technology is unnecessary: Various pilot programs have repeatedly shown that when people are provided with support — social, health, legal, etc. — instead of surveillance, appearance rates are up to 99%.
Reintroduction of the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act
In April 2023, the two chambers of Congress reintroduced the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act.
Among other things, the Act:
Ends no-bond detention;
Ends private detention;
And implements additional protections for those who remain detained.
For more information, go here.
If you are interested to learn if your Congresspeople are supporting:
→ For Senators, go here.
→ For Representatives, go here.