Pressroom

Washington, DC — Yesterday, HuffPost reported that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is shutting down the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, the office responsible for investigations into misconduct and abuse in the immigration detention system. On the same day, the Washington Post published an alarming report exposing widespread use of force and retaliation across the detention system.

Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director at Detention Watch Network issued the following statement:

“Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) purposefully obscures the truth, hides information from the public, and retaliates against anyone who speaks out against the abusive nature of immigrant detention. For the more than 60,000 people in ICE custody, every measure of oversight is crucial because lives are in jeopardy.

“Deaths in ICE custody continue to skyrocket past previous record highs amidst the Trump administration’s massive expansion of immigrant detention and increasing ICE violence. A shocking 18 people have died in ICE custody this calendar year — and 49 people total have died under this administration.

“Trump's cruel mass detention expansion is exacerbating the inhumane conditions that are inherent to ICE’s detention system and have been well documented for decades. ICE’s immigrant detention system deprives people of freedom, isolates people away from loved ones, and subjects people to abysmal conditions, including inadequate medical care and mental health services, inedible food, and racist abuse. Over the past year, there have been increasing reports of death, medical neglect, use of force, isolation, retaliation, overcrowding, lack of food, and rampant transfers that cut people off from their loved ones and support networks.

Even before DHS shut down the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, ICE’s oversight measures have long been profoundly insufficient, while a culture of secrecy pervades the agency, undermining accountability and allowing detention centers to operate without ICE having to answer for the inhumane treatment of people in detention. It is unconscionable that ICE would shut down even the most minimal oversight and accountability mechanisms at this moment while still moving full steam ahead with Trump’s mass detention and deportation agenda.

“This decision once again illustrates how no one is safe in ICE custody. While Republicans in Congress continue to push for billions in additional ICE funding, the demands to cut ICE funding and repeal the billions of dollars passed in last year’s reconciliation bill remain abundantly clear, urgent, and necessary. We must collectively call for an end to the ICE age to stop the loss of life in ICE custody and to keep people and communities safe.”

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Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a national coalition building power through collective advocacy, grassroots organizing, and strategic communications to abolish immigration detention in the United States.