BuzzFeed News reported in late October that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials deleted surveillance footage of a transgender woman who died while under custody last year. Now the outlet has further confirmed that federal immigration officials got rid of this footage even though they were clearly instructed to preserve it.
Emails show that ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility requested records regarding 33-year-old Roxsana Hernández, an asylum-seeker from Honduras, a little more than a week after her May 2018 death, which her advocates said could have been prevented if she’d received speedy medical attention. Included was a clear-as-day request to keep video records: "’Please archive and retain all facility video surveillance footage,’ the analyst asked, with the word ‘all’ underlined.”
But as BuzzFeed News reported in October, officials told the Office of Professional Responsibility in emails sent in late August that the footage was gone. “The requested video is no longer available. The footage is held in memory up to around 90 days. They attempted to locate and was negative.” The emails sent by officers to to the Office of Professional Responsibility were sent 95 days after Hernández's death, BuzzFeed News said.
Federal rules say that officials are required to preserve records in case of court litigation, which her advocates filed the following November. But even if there isn’t speedy court action or any court action at all, in what world does it make sense to not preserve records following an in-custody death (and when there are allegations of mistreatment)? Unless something is being hidden. Following the report that ICE deleted footage that could have provided some answers, legislators including Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Kamala Harris and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus called for further investigation.
“The American people deserve answers for what happened to Ms. Hernandez, and members of Congress have sought those answers,” Blumenthal and Harris said in requesting a special counsel from the Justice Department. “The need for answers is all the more acute in light of other deaths in U.S. custody, including the deaths of transgender individuals, and reports of insufficient medical care at U.S. facilities, including ICE facilities. We now need answers as to why that footage was not preserved. Any policies in need of reform must be examined. And any individuals that acted wrongfully must be held accountable.”
Hernández's advocates remain hopeful that needed footage could still exist somewhere, BuzzFeed News continued. "It's completely ridiculous to suggest they didn't know they were supposed to preserve critical video footage—the most basic thing you do when there's some type of investigation, or you expect to be sued," said Dale Melchert of the Transgender Law Center.
