Conditions in immigrant detention facilities are horrific and unacceptable, according to the findings in a report from the Department of Homeland Security inspector general based on surprise inspections carried out at four ICE facilities in 2018. The inspector general found unsanitary conditions in kitchens and bathrooms, among other problems, such as uniforms that don’t fit, at the four detention centers: Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California, LaSalle ICE Processing Center in Louisiana, Essex County Correctional Facility in New Jersey, and Aurora ICE Processing Center in Colorado.
The bathrooms at Adelanto and Essex were particularly problematic: The inspector general “observed detainee bathrooms that were in poor condition, including mold and peeling paint on walls, floors, and showers, and unusable toilets.” All four facilities had serious food service problems, but “At Essex, the food handling in general was so substandard that ICE and facility leadership had the kitchen manager replaced during our inspection” after finding raw chicken leaking blood into refrigerators, spoiled lunch meat, and moldy bread.
ICE detainees, according to the report, “are held in civil, not criminal, custody, which is not supposed to be punitive,” in marked contrast to the brutal conditions the inspections found. (And, psst, guys: Criminal detainees shouldn’t be fed rotten lunch meat either.)
Much more recently, inspectors found 900 detainees crammed into a Border Patrol facility meant for 125 in El Paso. It’s almost like the Trump administration isn’t trying to make things better, even as federal watchdogs call it out again and again.