Farmville, Virginia- On September 15, 2023, a contract between Immigration Centers of America (ICA)-Farmville Detention Center and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will expire, and with four weeks left, advocates are turning up the pressure on President Biden, Secretary Mayorkas, and ICE Executive Associate Director Staci Barrera to stop the renewal of the contract and shut down the facility for good. ICA-Farmville is one of two immigration detention facilities in Virginia, and a recent report exposed that ICE continues to detain some immigrants at these facilities despite winning their immigration cases.
Since 2008, Free Them All Virginia (FTAVA), a coalition of over 15 local, state, and national organizations, has worked to shut down ICA-Farmville Detention Center and expose the horrifying conditions of the facility and ongoing patterns of malicious abuse and retaliation. Communities in Virginia have witnessed over a decade of harm and terror by the facility, including family separation, violence and physical abuse from guards, worms in food, and isolation for retaliation against those who speak up. ICA-Farmville was also the site of one of the biggest COVID-19 outbreaks in ICE detention centers, leading to the death of James Hill in August 2020. People detained at ICA-Farmville have been denied access to recreation time, video calls, and radio signals, exacerbating already dangerous conditions.
While anti-detention legislation has been passed in several states, Farmville remains an active threat nationwide and especially to neighboring states, because when other detention centers have shut down, ICE has been transferring people to ICA-Farmville. Currently, ICA-Farmville is detaining migrants transferred from Caroline Detention Facility in Virginia, and starting July 10, 2023, ICE began using ICA-Farmville to detain migrants from any state across the country.
As ICA-Farmville’s contract expiration approaches, advocates are demanding local officials and the Biden administration shut down the facility, and ensure that all people detained are freed immediately and returned to their chosen communities, not transferred to other detention centers.
Beatriz Batres, Organizer with LaColectiVA, shared the following testimony at the August 9th Town of Farmville city council meeting:
“This is my third time visiting Farmville. The first time was when I visited my husband at the ICA-Farmville detention center. The second time, fortunately, is when we got to bring him home. I’m here in front of you today to inform you what happens inside and how it affects our communities. It was a difficult time for me, for my children, when they would ask where their daddy was and not knowing what to answer, whether he was coming home or not, whether we were going to see him again, to look at them, nights would come, and they would stay awake waiting for their daddy.
That was something that affected all of us. Even when I came to see him and saw him dressed in orange, with chains on his feet, with almost no physical contact, it was very difficult, but it was even more difficult to hear what he told me, that I should not visit him again, and I asked him why? He simply said no, I don't want to. I never understood until some time later. I can tell you that I am the voice of thousands of people, thousands of families, women, and mothers who are facing this situation.
Maybe it's not important to you that we aren’t local because it’s not you, and you won’t ever understand what it’s like to face deportation and family separation. But to us, it's important that ICA-Farmville closes for good because it’s a place that does too much harm to our communities.
How you would feel if after a family member visited you, a group of officers or a group of people like we are here, made you squat down, take off your pants, stand in front of other men, and be told to bend down because they want to see if you have something that you're going to carry inside, like contraband inside your rectum. That's sexual abuse.”
Marcela Hernandez, Organizing and Membership Director with Detention Watch Network said:
“For many years, Free Them All VA Coalition has exposed the horrific conditions at ICA-Farmville. Let us be clear: lives are in jeopardy when people are in ICE custody. Simply put, people navigating their immigration case should be able to do so with their families and loved ones — not behind bars in immigration detention. The Biden Administration must shut down ICA-Farmville and release people from detention immediately.”
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