Calling for the revocation of a psychologist’s license due to a pattern of “unprofessional, unethical and negligent treatment,” complaint underscores mental health failures in U.S. immigration detention system
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: media@freedomforimmigrants.org
SAN DIEGO — In a complaint filed today by a coalition of legal and advocacy organizations, 12 immigrants currently or previously detained in federal immigration custody at the Otay Mesa Detention Facility in San Diego have come forward to report severe mental health abuses at the hands of a psychologist whose pattern of negligence and misconduct further traumatized and endangered those who acknowledged risk of harm to themselves or others due to mental illness.
Submitted to the California Board of Psychology, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and offices within Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the complaint establishes a troubling pattern of dismissive, unethical and prejudiced treatment by Dr. Hrysso Fernbach. Fernbach is a licensed psychologist contracted by CoreCivic, the private operator of the detention center.
Numerous incidents included in the complaint document Dr. Fernbach’s refusal to believe patients’ reporting of symptoms and her use of mocking, hateful and derogatory language that left individuals seeking treatment for their mental health conditions in a state of confusion, and in many cases, in worse condition than before their interaction with Fernbach.
Drawing on psychiatrists’ independent medical reviews of patients’ charts, previous complaints documenting Fernbach’s misconduct and recent reports of ongoing mistreatment, advocates are calling for Fernbach to be immediately removed from her position and for the revocation of her license to practice psychology.
“Just because someone is facing a deportation order, that doesn't mean that we don't have mental health problems,” said Junior Jerome, one of the individuals in the complaint who has since been released from ICE detention. “At Otay Mesa, they didn't want to help me at all. The first time I asked for help, they put me in solitary confinement. I couldn't sleep, I had PTSD, I would wake up sweating and pacing back and forth. I would see things and people that weren't there, like my daughter. I tried to get help for the first time in my life.”
In California and across the U.S., the immigration detention system is notorious for its severely inadequate mental health care and psychologically torturous conditions. Advocates and people in detention have long documented these system-wide failures, marked by dehumanizing treatment, prolonged isolation from family and support networks, transfers away from loved ones and frequent use of solitary confinement.
“While many will be shocked to learn of the egregious actions of Dr. Fernbach, this case is unfortunately emblematic of the type of neglect and abuse people inside detention are subjected to,” said Layla Razavi, interim co-executive director with Freedom for Immigrants. “People in detention are routinely deprived of essential and critical health care, compounding this already abusive and isolating experience. We need a system that invests in and supports mental health, not one that damages it.”
"In detention, it always feels like we are not being heard,” said Erik Mercado, another individual in the complaint who remains detained at Otay Mesa. “Knowing this complaint is filed and made public makes a difference for the state of mind of us inside. But we demand that the state of California take immediate action to support people in detention with mental health conditions since it's clear that ICE and DHS have been ignoring us."
"The SOLACE community immigration detention visitation program is guided by the Unitarian Universalist Church's First Principle, which recognizes the inherent worth and dignity of every person,” said Kathy Smith, a volunteer with SOLACE. "The treatment of people at Otay Mesa is antithetical to this value, and it’s clear that mental health abuses in immigration detention is a deep-rooted problem that goes beyond this one complaint. We must free them all."
“I went to the facility doctor and she said there was nothing wrong with me, just that I was ‘facing a difficult charge,’” continued Junior Jerome, who continues to fight his deportation order to Haiti, a country unfamiliar to him, as he receives treatment for mental illness. “She said she wouldn't give me any medicine, there was nothing wrong with me, and that I would be okay. I have since been diagnosed with PTSD and schizophrenia, and I am now getting the help I need. I want to say clearly that I believe immigrant lives matter, but ICE doesn't believe this. I believe what they did to me was inhumane and patient abandonment, and other people who are still in detention are going through that right now.”
The groups that filed the complaint include Al Otro Lado, American Friends Service Committee - San Diego, Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center, Detention Resistance, Freedom for Immigrants, Free Them All San Diego, Party for Socialism and Liberation - San Diego, SOLACE (Souls Offering Loving And Compassionate Ears), Interfaith Detention Center Visitation Project of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego, Tahrir Liberation Community Law: Law Office of Lillian Boctor.
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