Bicameral lawmakers who represent the state of California in Congress are calling on the Biden administration to investigate “disturbing conditions and abusive and retaliatory behavior towards detainees” recently reported by immigrant and civil rights organizations at two privately operated immigrant detention facilities in California.
The civil rights complaint filed by groups last week zeroes in on the Golden State Annex and Mesa Verde Detention Facility, both of which are operated by private prison profiteer GEO Group and already have a history of abuses against immigrants. Lawmakers say that if allegations in the complaint are confirmed, the administration must cancel the contracts.
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“The complaint, filed by the Centro Legal de la Raza, California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, Innovation Law Lab, Freedom for Immigrants, ACLU Foundation of Northern California and the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, describes the conditions in the two facilities as ‘toxic and deadly,’ and provides descriptions from nine detainees who engaged in collective bargaining and were subsequently put in solitary confinement or lost access to commissary,” Sen. Alex Padilla, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, and Rep. Lou Correa lead. (See full list of signatories here.)
That civil rights complaint states that multiple detained immigrants were thrown into solitary confinement as punishment for asserting their right to not work in GEO Group’s “voluntary” work program. In reality, it is forced labor, and GEO Group has been liable for millions in damages for forcing detained immigrants to work in other states. The complaint states that at Mesa Verde, one man was thrown into solitary for nearly two months for his organizing. Officials then planned to transfer Mohamed Mousa out of state for supposed “security concerns,” but this was really just more retaliation by officials.
“Advocates mobilized to stop Mr. Mousa’s transfer and, as Mr. Mousa was about to board a plane, his transfer was successfully halted,” the complaint stated. Mousa was returned to Mesa Verde, and returned to solitary confinement.
“As of the delivery date of this letter, detained workers at Golden State Annex have been on a labor strike for over 70 days,” lawmakers state, while the labor strike at Mesa Verde has gone on for 100 days. “The detainees have voiced concerns about dangerous work conditions, their $1-a-day pay rate, lack of nutritional meals, access to medical care, high commissary costs and prices for calls, unsafe living conditions, disrespectful behavior from staff, and the lack of a meaningful grievance process.”
Golden State Annex had also previously retaliated against migrants who peacefully protested dangerous conditions amid the pandemic. “ICE transferred several people who had spoken out or filed grievances about the food, medical care, cleanliness, and COVID-19 precautions while at the McFarland facility,” The Fresno Bee reported last fall. They were moved to Mesa Verde.
“It is critical that ICE conduct a full and complete review of the reports of disturbing conditions and abusive and retaliatory behavior towards detainees at both facilities,” lawmakers write. “If the allegations made in this complaint are confirmed, we would ask that DHS end those contracts and prioritize the safety of individuals who are subjected to such conditions.” Of course, previous investigations have already merited the cancellation of GEO Group’s contracts, like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finding that GEO Group had violated the law by misusing a toxic pesticide that sickened immigrants at another one of its California facilities.
Lawmakers also said it was “imperative that nonviolent detainees are not merely transferred to another facility away from their support networks, legal representation and families, but are instead released on alternatives to detention and case management.” ICE has a history of transferring immigrants from shuttered facilities rather than just releasing them to their homes and communities.
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