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…
Our latest press releases on important news and events relating to immigration detention in the United States. For media inquiries, contact media@detentionwatchnetwork.org.
WASHINGTON, DC — A report, Fatal Neglect: How ICE Ignores Deaths in Detention, released today by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Detention Watch Network (DWN) and the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), examines egregious violations of medical standards by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that played a significant role in the deaths of eight people in detention centers across the country. During the Obama administration, 56 individuals have died while in ICE custody. This report focuses on eight deaths during a three-year period (2010 to 2012). Based on…
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — A new report, “Abuse in Adelanto: An Investigation into a California Town’s Immigration Jail” released today by Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC) and the Detention Watch Network (DWN) documents the extreme dangers detained immigrants face at the Adelanto Immigration Detention Facility — a for-profit facility where medical abuses run rampant and two high profile deaths have occurred. The report raises specific concerns about the treatment of people with disabilities incarcerated at the facility — with one man in a wheelchair denied…