ACLU Accuses ICE of Inhuman Treatment in Florida Detention Centers

A new report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)’s Florida office accuses multiple Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers of inhumane treatment of detained migrants. In their release, the ACLU accuses several Florida facilities of denying basic human necessities to those in custody, fostering unsanitary and miserable living conditions.

Specifically, the report names the Baker County and Glades County detention centers as having committed disturbing violations of human dignity toward migrants being held in their facilities. The ACLU alleges these facilities withheld things such as clean water, soap, toilet paper, and feminine hygiene products, and kept individuals in areas overtaken by mold and bug infestations.

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Building on that, the ACLU cites research from Northeastern University in Massachusetts that speaks of ‘persistent emotional, physical, and sexual abuse at the hands of staff’. It goes on to claim evidence of discrimination on the basis of race, gender, and religious affiliation, plus punishment to those who reached out to staff asking for medical attention for their preexisting conditions.

“ICE detention is characterized by abuse, pervasive medical neglect, and utter disregard for the dignity of people in its custody. Florida is no exception,” said Alexis Yohros, senior research analyst at the ACLU of Florida. “If Florida detention centers continue these patterns of abuse and neglect, we are bound to see many people suffer and more people die while housed in these government-run facilities.”

Who Can Solve the Problems in ICE Detention Centers?

ICE is a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It’s currently led by Patrick Lechleitner, the Acting Director appointed to his post by President Joe Biden. All ICE directors have been acting directors only dating back to January 2017, when Barack Obama’s final ICE director left office. Not a single one of the ten acting directors who’ve followed under Biden and then-President Donald Trump have been approved by the U.S. Senate.

If policies within ICE were to change, it would be the prerogative of the Biden administration to do so prior to the January inauguration of President-elect Trump. If they choose to allow the second Trump administration to tackle the problem, it would fall under Trump’s ICE pick, Caleb Vitello, to act. Other agencies with managerial authority over ICE detention facilities include Customs and Border Protection and the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Some at the ACLU of Florida would like the Biden administration to act now on the issue. “We’re calling on the Biden administration to halt any efforts to expand this cruel mass detention machine and shut down abusive facilities once and for all– including Baker,” continued Yohros. “The bottom line is that this system is fundamentally inhumane, unnecessarily costly, and continues to put lives at risk.”

“Earlier this year, ICE signaled plans to expand into a mass immigration detention system despite strong public opposition from immigrants’ rights advocates and members of Congress. These efforts are laying the groundwork to help facilitate President-Elect Trump’s ability to carry out his draconian mass detention and deportation program,” added ACLU civil rights attorney Amy Godshall. “In Florida, we expect to see these detention facilities swell with people and these inhumane conditions worsen.”

Quotations About Baker and Glades Counties’ ICE Detention Centers

These are some of the accusations made in the ACLU’s report, built on testimony from detainees at the facilities in question. For the full list of alleged human rights abuses, refer to the report in its entirety.

• Emotional, Physical, and Sexual Abuse
  • “After approximately six hours, officers barged into the cell and grabbed one of the men, who was the last to knock on the door to request toilet paper. Four officers dragged him out of the cell and handcuffed, pepper sprayed, and beat him without warning, cause, or justification.” (Baker County)
  • “Complainant has been experiencing psychological torture by ICE officials who constantly threaten to deport him back to the Dominican Republic, where he would face known threats, or that they will arbitrarily detain him for 90 days longer.” (Location Not Specified)
  • “Showers are open inside the women’s quarters, with unannounced entries leading to circumstances in which the women report being watched while they shower and made to feel very unsafe.” (Glades County)
• Lack of Clean Drinking Water:
  • “Men detained at Baker report that Baker staff often refuse to provide drinking water for up to eight hours, and that water is taken away as a form of punishment and retaliation.” (Baker County)
  • “One of the water coolers has a dirty, blackened spigot because the officers drag the cooler across the ground. On April 18, 2022, individuals asked staff to wash the water cooler and change the water because it was so dirty. The officer appeared visibly angry at this request and took away the cooler, only to bring it back later even dirtier than before and covered in hair.” (Baker County)
  • “The women report food and water are contaminated, and water is often inaccessible. Water is yellow, and the water cooler is contaminated with hair and little black stones. In the recreation area, there is a water jug but no cups. In the dorms, there is only one jug of water, and it is always empty.” (Glades County)
• Denial of Sanitary Care Products:
  • “Officers advised her (them) to use socks instead of sanitary napkins—despite the fact that the socks issued by Baker are often extremely dirty. With no other choice, Ms. Cuevas used the socks but bled through them onto her bedding. Baker staff refused to provide clean bedding, forcing her to sleep on blood-soaked sheets for several days.” (Baker County)
  • “Samantha Lindsay, a Jamaican woman, similarly had to sleep in blood-soaked sheets because of the arbitrary sanitary napkin cap. She went three full days without sanitary napkins. When she informed Baker staff of the menstrual blood running down her legs and her desperate need for sanitary napkins, she too was told to use socks. These experiences are dehumanizing and directly contravene ICE’s standards.” (Baker County)
  • “The women at Glades are at the mercy of the officers for toilet paper, tampons, and pads, and report verbally abusive behavior for requesting essential items needed for their physical well-being.” (Glades County)
• Deprivation of Medical Care:
  • “Individual has a heart condition; no medical assessment until after quarantine […] About 20-25 days before they performed a medical assessment. Individual has prescriptions for hypertension and Flomax. Glades refused to give him his medication until he had a medical assessment. He complained, so did everyone in his pod, and they finally gave them his prescription meds. They never did a medical assessment prior to giving him his meds; nurse distributed it.” (Location Not Specified)
  • “On May 25th, a person with a fever of 106 degrees was told to take a shower and given pain pills as treatment. As of May 26th, the bathrooms in the A1 housing unit had not been cleaned or sanitized for two days. On May 27th, the facility temporarily ran out of medication.” (Glades County)
  • “On August 4, 2022, Ms. Joseph indeed suffered a seizure as she and her family had feared. She was unable to talk, her lips turned blue, and her pulse was extremely high. When Ms. Joseph awoke in the medical bay, the medical staff denied that she had a seizure and instead claimed it was only a panic attack.” (Baker County)
• Unclean Living Conditions:
  • (Per a detainee): “This place is not fit to inhabit for anybody, human or animal. There is black mold in the bathroom, and it’s not safe. B dorm is leaking. Shitwater runs down the wall, besides people’s beds. The inspector IGNORED these things. We said, ‘Are you going to check the bathroom?’ and they replied, ‘No, we already saw one,’ ‘Yeah but there’s another one!’ The roof leaks some kind of icicles which are hanging from the ceiling and forming the same thing on the ground. They’re 2 inches long, and look like a calcium deposit. We don’t know if it’s asbestos?” (Glades County)
  • “The booking cells had trash and old food on the floor, the walls and floors were dirty and stained, and the cots were old, dirty, and foul-smelling. In the housing units, detained individuals are unable to keep their cells clean and free of pests due to Baker’s failure to use or to provide them with adequate cleaning supplies. Several individuals told us they have discovered worms and cockroaches in their showers. Despite being on notice of this problem, it does not appear that either ICE or Baker has taken steps to ‘control and eliminate’ pests at the facility, as the National Detention Standards require.” (Baker County)
  • “Even the clothing at Glades is unsanitary because laundry is returned wet and moldy. One of the women we interviewed works in the laundry at Glades. Currently, there are only two detained individuals doing the laundry for the entire facility. She reports that the dryers are broken and not properly drying clothes, leaving people’s uniforms and other items to be returned wet and musty. She reported the issue with the dryers to multiple staff at Glades, including the Commander and a mechanic, only to have the issue ignored.” (Glades County)
• Unclean Food:
  • “Jose Lopez Pleitez reported finding a cockroach in one of his meals; on another occasion, he found a worm in his food.” (Baker County)
  • “Another woman showed the officers food on her tray that had a bug in it, but they refused to give her a different tray. On or about August 12, 2021, one woman reportedly was eating and bit into a wing of an insect that was in her food.” (Glades County)
  • “Many who follow specific diets, whether for medical, religious, or other reasons, report that Baker’s food has not met their dietary needs.” (Baker County)