Monitoring and Investigations
Our network of affiliated visitation programs provides the only consistent form of non-governmental, independent oversight of the U.S. immigration detention system.
The current model of immigration detention oversight by the government does not effectively address or prevent human and civil rights abuses.
Only Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its umbrella agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), conduct audits of immigrant prisons and jails. As there is no independent oversight, there are untold and unrecorded abuses.
We've documented these abuses and have filed civil rights complaints on behalf of hundreds of men and women in immigration detention.
To learn more about this, check out our investigations below or read our quarterly detention Snapshot reports.
ICE has no enforceable rules
Immigrants who have been abused by detention guards are made invisible by the threat of retaliation. In addition, there are no statutes or rules that govern immigration detention conditions.
ICE has established Performance-Based National Detention Standards for ICE and ICE-contracted facilities. As these standards are neither statutory nor incorporated into regulation, they are not legally enforceable and lack disciplinary and financial consequences for facilities that fail to comply.
How we monitor and document abuse
We document, categorize, and verify to the extent possible human and civil rights abuses in immigrant prisons and jails across the country on a daily basis. We are in direct contact with people in immigration detention through visits, tours, and our national hotline.
We use the data and stories we gather to engage in advocacy to address rights violations. We provide this information to Congress, the media, and allied organizations when appropriate.
PATTERNS OF ABUSE ACROSS IMMIGRANT PRISONS & JAILS
COVID-19 in ice jails & prisons
Amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, Freedom for Immigrants has launched a series of tools tracking ICE’s response to the virus. Summaries of our findings, federal complaints, and policy wins during the pandemic are published here.
TORTURE & DEPORTATION OF BLACK IMMIGRANTS
In October 2020, we filed a federal multi-individual complaint with the Office for Civil Rights & Civil Liberties within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and DHS’ Office of the Inspector General detailing how ICE officers coerced and tortured eight Cameroonian men into signing stipulated orders of removal.
HUNGER STRIKES
Freedom for Immigrants documented at least 1,600 people on hunger strike at 20 detention facilities between May 2015 and early 2019. We filed multiple civil rights complaints and collected over 26,000 signatures to support people on hunger strike.
MENTAL HEALTH
In the report, “Immigration Detention is Psychological Torture: Strategies for Surviving Our Fight for Freedom,” Freedom for Immigrants documents nearly 2,000 instances of emotional distress caused or exacerbated by the isolation inherent in the U.S. immigration detention system.
HATE INCIDENTS
The report, "Persecuted in U.S. Immigration Detention: A National Report on Abuse Motivated by Hate," is the first national study on abuse motivated by hate and bias in U.S. immigration detention.
SEXUAL ASSAULT
In April 2017, we filed a federal civil rights complaint calling for a federal investigation into reports of sexual abuse, assault, and harassment in immigration detention. We analyzed data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, which found that less than one percent of more than 33,000 complaints of sexual and physical abuse were investigated.
MEDICAL NEGLECT
Immigrants in detention are often subjected to substandard health care, which can lead to everything from miscarriages to death. Our report with Human Rights Watch, “Systemic Indifference: Dangerous & Substandard Medical Care in Immigration Detention,” reveals systemic failures, such as unreasonable delays in care and unqualified medical staff.
VISITATION DENIALS & RESTRICTIONS
Public access to immigrant prisons and jails is crucial for government accountability. We filed a civil rights complaint after we documented visitation denials and restrictions at 14 immigrant prisons and jails following the inauguration of President Trump.
bond and parole DENIALS for ASYLUM SEEKERS
Attorneys and advocates documented 805 cases at 37 immigrant prisons and jails of individuals who have been arbitrarily denied parole or bond since January 20, 2017.
PATTERNS OF ABUSE WITHIN SPECIFIC PRISONS & JAILS
Pine prairie detention center in louisiana
In August 2020, we filed a federal complaint with the Office for Civil Rights & Civil Liberties within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and DHS’ Office of the Inspector General detailing how prison officials used unnecessary lethal force to place Black immigrants in chokeholds and threaten them with solitary confinement at gunpoint at the Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center in Pine Prairie, Louisiana.
OTAY MESA DETENTION CENTER IN SAN DIEGO
In December 2018, the Otay Mesa Detention Center, which is run by CCA/CoreCivic, changed its restrictive visitation policy following a complaint by Freedom for Immigrants.
WEST COUNTY DETENTION FACILITY IN THE BAY AREA
This report led by Freedom for Immigrants, the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, Dr. Carolina Prado and six individuals formerly detained at WCDF uses participatory research methodology to identify and analyze conditions at the facility.
BERGEN COUNTY JAIL IN NEW JERSEY
In July 2021, Freedom for Immigrants supported 15 immigrants in ICE custody who lodged a multi-individual complaint with the Department for Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL), calling for an investigation into ongoing abuses including medical neglect, violent retaliation, COVID-19 negligence, religious discrimination, sexual assault and overall intolerable conditions at the Bergen County Jail (BCJ) in Bergen County, New Jersey.
OTERO COUNTY PROCESSING CENTER IN NEW MEXICO
The report “Why Doesn’t Anyone Investigate this Place?” reveals concerns raised by migrants detained at the Otero County Processing Center (OCPC) in Chaparral, New Mexico, an ICE immigration detention facility run by the for-profit Management and Training Corporation (MTC).
ADELANTO DETENTION FACILITY in southern california
We have been visiting and monitoring the Adelanto Detention Facility since 2012. Most recently, we documented and filed a federal complaint in January 2017 regarding a pattern of increased visitation denials and restrictions. Learn more about our extensive work in Adelanto.
SanTA ANA CITY JAIL in orange county
We filed a complaint on behalf of 31 transgender and cisgender women over illegal strip searches while in the custody of U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Santa Ana City Jail in Orange County. Soon after, ICE terminated its contract with the City of Santa Ana.
HUDSON COUNTY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY in new jersey
We filed a complaint on behalf of 61 women and men in the custody of U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Hudson County Correctional Facility in New Jersey. The complaint, which details a pattern and practice of substandard medical care, resulted in the first medical oversight committee in the immigration detention system comprised of advocates.
THEO LACY FACILITY in orange county
We filed a complaint on behalf of 10 men over multiple incidents of physical assault, including five incidents by Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) deputies, retaliatory transfers, and delay or denial of needed medical care at Theo Lacy Facility. It resulted in a federal investigation by DHS’s Office of the Inspector General, where the immigrant jail was cited for multiple federal standard violations.
ETOWAH COUNTY DETENTION in alabama
We filed a complaint on behalf of 20 men at the Etowah County Detention Center (ECDC) over alleged physical abuse of people in detention by federal agents, intimidation and additional violations. We also filed a complaint regarding an unreported death in detention and a pattern and practice of medical neglect.
Glades COUNTY DETENTION CENTER in Florida
Freedom for Immigrants and Immigrant Action Alliance filed a federal complaint in March 2021 regarding retaliation and abuse against two Black men in Glades—Kevin Louis Brown and Kemar Dwayne Williams. Both men participated in a federal complaint filed by Freedom for Immigrants and eight other organizations in February 2021.
STEWART DETENTION CENTER IN GEORGIA
El Refugio, Freedom for Immigrants, and Project South filed a federal complaint on March 22, 2021 on behalf of 70 individuals detained at Stewart Detention Center regarding violations of their civil rights, including egregious medical neglect, lack of releases for individuals with risk factors, dangerous cohorting of those well and sick and inadequate infection control, lack of social distancing, inconsistent use of PPE, inadequate hygiene and disinfection practices, lack of COVID-19 testing, misinformation, and retaliation.
KROME NORTH PROCESSING CENTER IN FLORIDA
In October of 2021, nine Black immigrants in federal custody filed a civil rights complaint with the Biden administration, speaking out against a disturbing pattern of anti-Black racism and abuse at the Krome North Service Processing Center, an ICE detention center in Miami, Florida. Advocates with The UndocuBlack Network, Haitian Bridge Alliance, National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild joined Freedom for Immigrants in submitting the complaint to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL).