LGBTQ immigrants detained by ICE often find themselves in solitary confinement
As far back as 2013, advocates were exposing the mistreatment of LGBTQ immigrants when they were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Sharita Gruberg, in a study called Dignity Denied – LGBT Immigrants in U.S. Immigration Detention published by the Center for American Progress, called out the mistreatment. Gruberg wrote, “Much like in the general prison population—where LGBT inmates are 15 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than the general population — LGBT immigrants in immigration detention facilities face an increased risk of abuse in detention.
“The U.N. Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment went as far as finding the treatment of LGBT immigrants in U.S. detention facilities in violation of the Convention Against Torture after it received information on gay and transgender individuals who had been subjected to solitary confinement, torture, and ill-treatment—including sexual assault—while detained in U.S. immigration facilities.”
After discussion of the problem, Gruberg offered some recommendations. Among them was this common sense recommendation: “Increase the use of alternatives to detention. There are a number of alternatives to detention, including monitoring through the use of electronic ankle bracelets or through supervised-release programs.”
That issue was brought forward during the Obama administration. It isn’t clear, looking at the data available, that it was followed.
Now, given the Trump administration’s intense and punitive policies on immigration, it is clear that ICE has stepped up the use of solitary confinement in immigrant detention centers. LGBTQ immigrants, among other groups who are vulnerable, have often ended up in solitary.
“New documents reveal that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is putting thousands of immigrants into solitary confinement because they’re LGBTQ, disabled, or report abuse from guards, not because they’re violating any rules in detention,” according to LGBTQNation.
“Solitary confinement separates a person in detention from the general population and restricts their privileges. They generally spend 22 hours a day in their cells, are denied visitation and phone calls, and even personal items like books and photos of friends and family.”
A report issued this month by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), called Solitary Voices, sheds light on the plight of LGBTQ immigrants.
“Dulce Rivera lived for the one hour a day she was allowed outside, to pace alone on a patch of concrete encased by metal fencing.
“They called it ‘the yard,’ but it was really a metal cage. Still, it was far better than the misery she endured the other 23 hours a day, locked alone in a cell with no one to talk to, and nothing to distract her from her increasingly dark thoughts.
“Rivera, a 36-year-old transgender woman from Honduras and a longtime United States resident, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2017. She was placed in the Cibola County Correctional Center in New Mexico, and moved into solitary confinement in May of 2018 for harassing other detainees, according to facility records.
“The cell had bare walls, adorned only with a few crude metal necessities: a table, sink and toilet.
“’You never know what day it is, what time it is,’ Rivera said. ‘Sometimes you never see the sun.’”
Rivera attempted suicide by hanging herself, but was found by a guard who cut her down before she suffocated.
The ICIJ report points out, “ICE’s own directives say that isolating its detainees — who under federal law, aren’t considered prisoners and aren’t held for punitive reasons — is ‘a serious step that requires careful consideration of alternatives.’” A simple action recommended by Gruberg in 2013, which clearly isn’t being followed by ICE.
Rivera’s case is not unique, reports NBC News. “Thousands of others were outlined in a trove of government documents that shed new light on the widespread use of solitary confinement for immigrant detainees in ICE custody under both the Obama and Trump administrations.
“The newly obtained documents paint a disturbing portrait of a system where detainees are sometimes forced into extended periods of isolation for reasons that have nothing to do with violating any rules.
“Disabled immigrants in need of a wheelchair or cane. Those who identify as gay. Those who report abuse from guards or other detainees..”
One whistleblower in DHS has spent five years trying to get the department to do something about this problem.
"We have created and continue to support a system that involves widespread abuse of human beings," Ellen Gallagher, a policy adviser at the Department of Homeland Security told NBC News. "People were being brutalized," she said.
It is clear from Gallagher’s efforts and going public about the issue, that ICE is not following its own rules. “Solitary confinement was being used as the first resort, not the last resort," she said.
Several states have enacted restrictions on solitary confinement.
With the number of detainees in more than 200 detention center has reached an average of 50,000 a day, we can be sure that a significant number of those are LGBTQ immigrants seeking a better life in the United States.
When, or if, Congress takes up immigration reform, this issue needs to be part of their deliberations. In the meantime, LGBTQ advocates need to make this a priority.
Copyright The Gayly – May 23, 2019 @ 3:30 p.m. CDT.