Exposing severe medical negligence and retaliatory transfers, federal complaint underscores need for releases and detention contract terminations
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: media@freedomforimmigrant.org
LAS VEGAS — Five individuals currently or previously detained in federal immigration detention at the Nye County Jail and Nevada Southern Detention Center in Pahrump, Nevada, have come forward to report a troubling pattern of retaliatory transfers and medical abuse detailed in a new federal civil rights complaint filed today by a coalition of legal and advocacy organizations.
Submitted to multiple Department of Homeland Security oversight agencies and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field offices, the complaint establishes a troubling pattern and practice of ICE abruptly transferring individuals following their advocacy for unaddressed medical needs.
“Every day, when I get my medications, I ask the nurse if there is any update regarding the critical health care that I’ve been requesting for years. Every day, they just tell me, ‘No,’” said Erik Mercado, one of the individuals in the complaint who suffers from severe medical conditions and remains in ICE detention at Nye County Jail. “An ICE official here has already told me that ‘they won’t be able to treat me in Nevada.’ They are basically just waiting and hoping that they can eventually deport me so that they do not have to spend money on my health care.”
“ICE and CoreCivic should provide us with adequate medical treatment, as it is our constitutional right,” said Lewis Abdul Kalim Sibomana, another individual named in the complaint who remains detained by ICE at Nevada Southern Detention Center, which is run by private prison company CoreCivic. “They should not be ignoring our medical needs in their efforts to punish us.”
In November 2022, ICE transferred several individuals who were originally detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego to the two remote Nevada detention facilities. According to the complaint, the local hospital in Nevada refuses to treat people in ICE custody, and ICE and local officials’ medical negligence often goes against the orders of doctors, resulting in worsened medical condition and sometimes irreparable harm.
Verbal abuse is also common in the Nevada detention centers. One individual in the complaint, Erik Mercado, recounts an instance of religious discrimination in which Nye County officials berated him with antisemitic slurs and threats of physical abuse after Mr. Mercado received his kosher meal. The incident appears to fit into a pattern of open white supremacy within the ranks of detention facility staff in Pahrump.
“Transfers, especially during the pandemic, have been repeatedly documented to be inhumane and irresponsible. Clearly, our community members were transferred from Otay Mesa Detention Center to Nevada as a form of retaliation for speaking out about the conditions under ICE and CoreCivic custody,” stated Ruth Mendez, member of Detention Resistance. “They were intentionally separated from family, friends, advocates and legal support to break them down. This system works as intended, and we demand that these individuals are heard and are released to their families and loved ones.”
“The retaliatory transfers and dire medical neglect documented in this complaint are emblematic of the abuse occurring across the immigration detention system,” said Amanda Díaz, senior national hotline manager with Freedom for Immigrants. “It’s clear that ICE used transfers to punish these individuals for seeking the medical care they so desperately need, isolating them from their families, doctors and support networks in the process. The cruelty of using transfers to silence and harm proves yet again that immigration detention is beyond the reach of reform. We must abolish immigration detention, because no matter where someone came from or how they came to the U.S., their life is of value and they are worthy of safety, justice and human dignity.”
According to the complaint, Mr. Mercado and others were transported by bus, shackled with leg irons. Although there was a restroom on the bus, the guards did not allow them to use it, and upon arrival at Nevada Southern, individuals were put into a "holding tank" that had no beds or showers. Several individuals, including Mr. Mercado, were held in the holding tank for more than sixteen hours.
The process was characteristic of ICE’s inter-detention practices in Nevada, California and all across the United States. A report released last week by Freedom for Immigrants uncovers how ICE weaponizes detention transfers as a form of retaliation, torture and labor trafficking, particularly against individuals who speak out against the conditions of their confinement.
“Among the most disturbing aspects of this mass transfer from California to Nevada is that it directly retaliated against individuals who were advocating for themselves and others in ICE detention and calling on officials to uphold the rights of people in this cruel system of injustice,” said Deborah Boehm, advocate with Faithful Friends - Amigos Fieles and Foundation Professor of Anthropology and Gender, Race, and Identity at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). “As Nevadans, we should all be concerned about the brutality of U.S. immigration detention being carried out in our home state and across the country, and commit to taking all possible actions to end it.”
The groups that filed the complaint include Arriba Las Vegas Workers Center, Detention Resistance, Faithful Friends - Amigos Fieles, Freedom for Immigrants, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, SOLACE (Souls Offering Loving And Compassionate Ears), and the UNLV Immigration Clinic.
In addition to an investigation into the retaliatory transfers, verbal abuse and medical negligence, the groups are calling for the immediate release of the three individuals in the complaint who remain detained and for the detention contracts at Otay Mesa, Nevada Southern and Nye County to be terminated.
Read the full complaint here.
Learn more about ICE retaliatory transfer practices here.
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Arriba Las Vegas Worker Center is a grassroots organization that unites day laborers, domestic workers, and other low-wage and migrant workers to defend their rights, fight for dignity and win justice for all. Their mission is to develop, educate, and empower worker and migrant communities to take action to defend their rights as workers and migrants.
Detention Resistance is an abolitionist, non-institutional, autonomous collective organizing in accompaniment with migrants, refugees, and those who have been criminalized by the state. Their mission is to end the inhumane detention and human rights abuses at Otay Mesa Detention Center, and they envision a world in which the humanity of all people to live freely is respected.
Faithful Friends - Amigos Fieles consists of committed volunteers whose purpose is to offer detained immigrants connection and support. They envision a world where no person has to endure the isolation of immigration detention.
Freedom for Immigrants (FFI) is devoted to abolishing immigration detention, while ending the isolation of people currently suffering in this profit-driven system. FFI monitors the human rights abuses faced by immigrants detained by ICE through a national hotline and network of volunteer detention visitors, while promoting community-based services that welcome immigrants into the social fabric of the United States.
The Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN) builds power with their community through strategic organizing and policy advocacy to build a strong and fair Nevada that puts people and planet first.
SOLACE (Souls Offering Loving And Compassionate Ears) volunteers visit and support individuals detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Facility. They provide a caring and compassionate presence and affirm the humanity and value of people held in detention.
The UNLV Immigration Clinic offers law students real world experience practicing immigration law, provides free legal services to members of the campus community, and defends adults in detention and unaccompanied children against deportation.