California U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is calling on Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to stop a recent move to further weaken detention standards, including a decision that will allow detention facility officers to hog-tie people in their custody. “Given the number of deaths in ICE custody and reports of poor conditions in ICE facilities, detention standards must be improved,” Feinstein said in a statement. “I therefore ask that you suspend the revised standards and seek further input from qualified experts on how they can be improved.”
The American Civil Liberties Union has been among the advocates condemning the revisions—which the administration quietly rolled out just a few days before Christmas as many folks were tuned out from the news—which, in addition to allowing inhumane restraint methods, allow medical staff to put detainees who refuse medical examination or treatment in solitary confinement. “ICE has also eliminated standards that help to preserve detainees’ basic dignity,” the ACLU’s Eunice Cho said, including removing modesty panels from toilets.
Feinstein writes in a letter to acting ICE Director Matthew Albence, “ICE facilities were already failing to meet existing standards” even before this change. “On September 27, 2018, the Inspector General found egregious violations of detention standards in facilities, including one in California where there were ‘nooses in detainee cells, overly restrictive segregation, inadequate medical care, unreported security incidents, and significant food safety issues,’” she wrote.
Just days ago, ICE also moved nearly 30 transgender people out of a privately operated detention facility in New Mexico that has long been criticized by immigrant advocates for poor medical services and other abuses. Both community organizations and Democratic lawmakers had called on officials to release transgender detainees, citing a number of horrific deaths and the agency’s ongoing failure to meet congressional standards ensuring the safety and well-being of this vulnerable group.
“In light of these issues, ICE needs to consult with medical and mental health experts, congressional oversight committees, and advocates before finalizing and issuing new their detention standards,” Feinstein concluded in the letter. A 2019 USA Today investigation found that at least 29 immigrants have died in ICE custody since 2017; making poor conditions even worse will continue to have dire consequences. It’s long past due for this agency to be put in check.