Report alleges mistreatment at immigrant detention centers

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency failed to administer timely medical care to illegal immigrants detained at its facilities, according to a report released earlier this week by the Homeland Security Department's inspector general.

The report also stated that "a female detainee [in San Diego] alleged that… a contract guard sexually assaulted her." The incident resulted in the guard's firing, but the local U.S. attorney's office did not prosecute the case, the report said.

The IG criticized ICE for neglecting to issue handbooks specifically addressing detainees' rights and for not translating handbooks and orientation material into Spanish and other prevalent languages. The report also noted that the agency has not established a process detainees can use to report abuse or civil rights violations and has not granted them sufficient access to legal materials.

The IG based the report on inspections at ICE detention centers in Leesport, Pa.; Kearny and Paterson, N.J.; Miami and San Diego.

ICE failed to give some detainees at the five facilities required medical screenings, the IG found. The agency also failed to take adequate care of detainees who were on a hunger strike. Most of the facilities investigated "did not monitor vital signs… at least once every 24 hours, as required," the IG noted.

Other detainees who were on suicide watch were not checked on every 15 minutes -- also a failure to adhere to policy. In addition, the report cited excessively hot water (but said ICE fixed the problem quickly) and "unsafe" bunk beds. The agency denied the safety issues with the beds. Detainees also complained of being served undercooked chicken (which proved true, according to the IG) and poor ventilation, which could not be confirmed.

The report also included complaints of abusive guards and alleged incidents where detainees were followed to bathroom and shower areas and photographed by guards with cell phone cameras.

There were more than a dozen recommendations on how the agency could improve its care of detainees.

The IG suggested ICE improve its incident reporting practices for guards and detainees alike, make resources fully available for detainees who wanted to prepare legal documents and strengthen the protection of detainees' personal property. All recommendations but one were made public. The undisclosed recommendation was removed at ICE's request, the report stated.

In responses included in the report, ICE officials said the data was not collected from a wide sample.

"The inspector general staff based their report on visits to five of these facilities and, according to the report, did not use statistical sampling in selecting the subjects for their interviews," said ICE spokesman Marc Raimondi. "The authors stress that the results of their testing should not be projected to the detainee population or other facilities."

Agency officials said they are improving reporting procedures and some failures to provide sufficient legal information to detainees were corrected over the course of the review. They said they also are clarifying staff directives that deal with misconduct, abuse and civil rights violations.

The IG's report angered immigration activists, who said they plan to use the data to support the release of detainees at detention centers nationwide.

"We were surprised," said Siu Hin Lee, an advocate with the Immigration Solidarity Network. He called the agency's detention practices "inhumane."