Editorial: The Inhumane Detention of Migrants

In 2018, there was an average of 42,000 illegal migrants being held in an ICE detention center on any given day. This number has risen to over 50,000 in 2019. Not only is this number immense, but it has also led to the inhumane treatment of these migrants while they are in government custody. As reported by the ACLU, “complaints of physical, sexual, and verbal abuse by officers are not at all uncommon.” These people are being exploited because as “aliens”, they are not given the right to due process, or in other words a fair trial.

The reason that these horrible acts can go unchecked is through the privatization of the detention centers these people are housed in. By making justice a private matter, companies are inclined to house people in detention centers longer than needed so that they can make more money. One way that this is done is in the use of a bed quota in these detention centers to further incentivize ICE to fill this quota and exceed it to gain more money. There is not a government quota anymore, but ICE still has bed quotas written into private contracts with the companies that run these centers. Due to these quotas, instead of trying to assist the migrants, ICE has more of a motive to put them in these centers because it will make them more money helping them.

The conditions in the detention centers are also unsafe and inhumane. Immigrants are not given the right to a free lawyer, and even though immigrant courts are required to give the immigrants a list of lawyers they can use, many of these lawyers will only represent a specific kind of immigrant, not all of them. In addition to not receiving a lawyer, the actual detention centers are not required to be up to the PBNDS standards, which is the “Performance-Based National Detention Standards”. ICE does not require their detention centers to be up to date with the latest of these standards. Also, the ICE workers in these facilities do not provide proper care to these migrants. One example of this is an immigrant from Guinea, Boubacar Bah, who, after suffering a skull fracture, was placed in isolation for thirteen hours and died in ICE custody (Wikipedia).

Illegal immigrants, even though they are not using legal practices, should still have basic human rights, even in detention centers. Many of these immigrants are fleeing unsafe conditions where they live and their only choice is coming to America. By ignoring these problems within ICE and their practices, Americans are indirectly supporting what they are doing by not speaking out. Through reform such as updated detention center guidelines and competent medical care for the immigrants, these horrific and inhumane practices can be put to an end and we can start to help and support the immigrants coming from Latin and South America. To start this process, you can write to your congressman. The addresses to write to are listed below.

Bernie Sanders: U.S. Senate 332 Dirksen Building Washington, DC 20510

Patrick Leahy: U.S. Senate 437 Russell Senate Building Washington, DC 20510