Had adequate medical care been provided, 49 of the 52 people who died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody could have been prevented, according to a report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and human rights organizations.
The 76-page report, titled “Deadly Failures: Preventable Deaths in U.S. Immigration Detention Facilities,” which was produced by the ACLU’s National Prison Project and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and American Oversight, analyzed deaths that occurred in immigration custody between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2021.
“Each of these deaths represents a preventable tragedy and underscores the systemic danger of placing people in immigration detention,” said Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s National Prison Project and co-author of the report.
“ICE has failed to provide adequate, even basic, medical and mental health care, or ensure that detained individuals are treated with dignity,” she added. “The abuses during ICE detentions must no longer be ignored. It is time to hold ICE accountable and end this dangerous and failed mass detention machine once and for all.”
The report’s authors reviewed more than 14,500 pages of documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, state public records and civil litigation.
The deaths and their related inspections, including ICE investigative reports, were subsequently reviewed by six medical experts, including Dr. Michelle Heisler, medical director of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and professor of internal medicine and public health at the University of Michigan.
“Independent medical reviews of the report reveal appalling failures in medical care. In the majority of cases reviewed, inadequate or absent care directly or possibly contributed to the deaths,” Dr. Heisler said.
“This report reinforces a grim reality that has been well documented over the past 20 years: medical care in ICE detention centers is often deeply flawed,” he added.
At the same time, he said, more effective and humane alternatives to detention allow asylum seekers and other immigrants in the United States to receive medical care in their local communities.
ICE currently detains an average of 38,000 people daily in a network of approximately 130 detention centers across the country, the report said.
It also notes that the U.S. Congress recently increased ICE’s budget to detain 41,500 people a day by fiscal year 2024, at a cost of $3.4 billion.
Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s National Prison Project, said her report documents many cases that ICE also examined, with the caveats that its investigators were allowed to destroy video evidence of the deaths and released people who were eyewitnesses to the deaths.
“They suppressed facts in their investigative reports that could point to failures in the detention centers,” he told La Opinión. “What our report shows is that ICE investigations are incomplete and do not hold accountable those who were responsible for the people.” [muertas]. And that is something that should not happen anymore.”
‘One death is too many’: ICE
A spokesperson for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service told La Opinión that “any death in custody is one too many.”
In a statement, the spokesperson said ICE prioritizes the health, safety and well-being of all non-citizens in its care and remains committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe and humane environments.
“It is long-standing practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment a noncitizen enters ICE custody,” she said. “This includes medical, dental, and mental health intake screenings within 12 hours of arrival at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arriving at a facility, and access to 24-hour medical appointments and emergency care.”
The ICE spokesperson said the agency remains committed to “full transparency when a person dies while in ICE custody.”
Detained noncitizens can call the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) detention information line at 888-351-4024 if they believe they are not receiving first-class care while in custody.
Repatriation to Mexico
Juan Carlos Rodríguez, head of the Protection Department at the Mexican Consulate General in Los Angeles, said that the repatriation of bodies of Mexicans who die in the United States begins with the relatives.
“Family members request support from the Mexican government to repatriate the remains of their loved one, and part of the process is guidance,” he told La Opinión. “In reality, here in the United States, that is a matter that corresponds to the counties, not the federal government.”
Rodriguez said that each county has specific regulations and although people do not have to know them, they go to the consulates or offices in Mexican territory to find out the guidelines on the case, what documents are required and other requirements.
He exemplified that, in Los Angeles County, the handling of the remains of a human person is the exclusive responsibility of a professional authorized by the Government of the State of California.
In this sense, funeral homes are the ones that provide these services, because they are licensed by the local government to transport, handle and prepare bodies, either for their final burial here in the United States or to transfer them to another country.
Juan Carlos Rodríguez explained that within the broad spectrum of consular protection and assistance services is our program for the repatriation of remains of Mexicans who have died abroad.
“Services are activated based on the families who request them and action is taken based on consular interviews and the detection of vulnerabilities to determine how much partial sponsorship inherent to the transfer of remains is required,” he added. “The cost can be partial or total; we never talk about amounts, or percentages or anything, it is case by case.”
Dead Hispanics
The ACLU report alleges that ICE detention medical staff provided incomplete, inappropriate or delayed treatment and medication.
In 79% of the 52 death cases reviewed, ICE detention medical staff provided treatment that did not meet evidence-based medical standards, was inadequate to resolve the medical problem, or was unreasonably delayed.
The investigation also indicates that medical staff also failed to properly administer the necessary medication and prescribed contraindicated drugs.
Stories of the victims
• Emigdio Abel Reyes Clemente Reyes Clemente died of undiagnosed and untreated bacterial pneumonia in 2019 after medical staff at the Florence Service Processing Center in Arizona assumed, without testing, that he had influenza. The detention center never prescribed antibiotics, provided oxygen or took a chest X-ray. Reyes Clemente died in a solitary confinement cell in medical isolation. He died from complications of heart disease, diabetes and cirrhosis of the liver.
• Carlos Mejia-Bonilla Mejia Bonilla had difficulty receiving prescribed medications for cirrhosis while detained at the Hudson County Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in New Jersey. Ultimately, the facility’s careless approach to medication management may have proved fatal. Mejia Bonilla died of gastrointestinal bleeding four days after the detention center prescribed him naproxen, which is contraindicated for patients with cirrhosis.
• Wilfredo Padron died of a heart attack at the Monroe County Detention Center in Florida after medical staff at the detention center repeatedly failed to perform an electrocardiogram test or refer him to a doctor when he complained of chest pain and high blood pressure.
• Ephraim of the Rose deteriorated for weeks and eventually committed suicide at Stewart Detention Center in Georgia after medical staff failed to ensure he received the antipsychotic medications prescribed to treat his schizophrenia. After he killed himself, nursing staff falsely recorded the administration of psychiatric medication.