Hirono, Colleagues Urge Closure of Inhumane Immigration Detention Centers

Lawmakers: “We do not support a system that detains people in inhumane conditions that result in long-term medical issues, psychological trauma, and sometimes death. We urge that these facilities be shut down, in a step towards building an immigration system that welcomes and respects migrants.”

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) joined Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) in sending a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), urging them to phase out the use of private detention centers, and close four facilities with well-documented inhumane conditions.

“The federal government should not pay private facilities with continuously problematic conditions,” wrote the lawmakers. “Upon termination of contracts, ICE should pursue community-based alternatives to detention, which provide immigrants with resources that help them integrate into their communities and stay with their families.”

Today, ICE detains between 36,000 and 40,000 individuals, 91 percent of whom are held in private detention facilities. Over half of the public opposes the use of private detention facilities to hold asylum seekers.

In 2021, President Biden ordered an end to the federal government’s use of private prisons, but did not extend the order to immigration detention facilities. Now, the lawmakers are calling for an end to the use of private immigration detention centers entirely, with a focus on four facilities in Estancia, New Mexico; Winnfield, Louisiana; Adelanto, California; and Farmville, Virginia. These facilities have well-documented horrific conditions, such as “yellow drinking water,” forced sleep deprivation, prolonged solitary confinement, inadequate medical care, limited access to legal counsel, and violent retaliation against those who complain.

The senators also wrote that DHS’s own oversight bodies—the DHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG), Office for Civil Rights Civil Liberties (CRCL), and Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman (OIDO)—have recommended closing some of these detention facilities. The lawmakers expressed that while stronger oversight is important for all ICE facilities, facilities that repeatedly violate applicable standards should be closed altogether.

Additionally, just two private immigration detention companies dominate the immigration detention market, GEO and CoreCivic (formerly the Corrections Corporation of America), raking in $1 billion and $552 million respectively from ICE just in 2022. Skyrocketing profits have created a financial incentive to lobby for an expansion of ICE’s detention footprint, and these companies have spent millions doing so.

“We do not support a system that detains people in inhumane conditions that result in long-term medical issues, psychological trauma, and sometimes death,” concluded the senators. “We urge that these facilities be shut down, in a step towards building an immigration system that welcomes and respects migrants.”

The senators also requested a complete list of all public and private ICE detention facilities, unredacted copies of the most recent contracts for the four worst facilities, and a timeline for ending contracts at those four facilities.

The full text of the letter is available here.

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