To Breathe Free: Living Up to our Promise

A few weeks ago, I visited two of the largest immigration detention centers in the country, both in Texas, both essentially prisons. The 2000-bed Willacy Detention Center, in Raymondville, Texas, is a surreal place, resembling a massive detention camp, with its ten huge, tent-like structures, “pods” to hold detainees, barbed wire, uniformed guards, and detainees in prison garb. From Willacy, asylum seekers are generally transferred to the South Texas Detention Complex, in the tiny town of Pearsall. With one hall alone running a quarter mile long, the 1900-bed facility is yet another massive prison-like facility.

The U.S. immigration detention system is, by all accounts, in an appalling state; the good news is that the Secure and Safe Detention and Asylum Bill, a bi-partisan bill introduced by Senators Joseph Lieberman (I–CT), Sam Brownback (R-KS) Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), and Chuck Hagel, (R-Neb.) should address many of the issues.

After arriving at a U.S. airport or border seeking asylum from persecution, a refugee should expect to find a fair system for assessing his or her request for protection. Too often, however, those who seek refuge are greeted with handcuffs, prison uniforms, barbed wire, and interminable detention that is lacking in independent checks. This kind of system is inconsistent with this country’s commitments under international human rights standards, as well as its principles of justice and compassion for the victims of persecution who flee to this country, in the words of Emma Lazarus, “yearning to breathe free.”

It shouldn’t be this way. In February 2005, the bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a comprehensive report documenting many of the flaws in the U.S. system for detaining asylum seekers, and made recommendations to rectify these problems. Unfortunately, over three years later, some of the Commission’s most critical recommendations have still not been implemented.

The Commission concluded that detention in prison-like facilities was inappropriate for asylum seekers, and yet the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has dramatically increased its use of this type of facility. The Commission recommended improvements to the expedited removal process, and yet DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff has repeatedly expanded its use, without first implementing the Commission’s reforms. The Commission recommended setting regulations providing for the release (under parole) of asylum seekers who satisfy specific criteria, and yet immigration authorities narrowed the criteria and issued guidelines (rather than enforceable regulations) that leave local immigration officers substantial leeway to continue to detain asylum seekers, even when they present no risk.

More than three years later, far too many asylum seekers continue to be held in prison-like facilities without adequate safeguards; recent investigative reports by The Washington Post and 60 Minutes have revealed serious deficiencies in the medical care provided to all immigrants in detention.

Detention takes a real toll on those who flee from repression and violence. In Texas, I met with the pro bono attorneys who are representing one woman who is seeking refuge from political persecution at the hands of Burma’s military regime. When she requested asylum at the U.S. border, she was detained, handcuffed, and given prison clothes to wear. Her request for parole was denied by local immigration officials who found no “urgent humanitarian interest” or “significant public benefit” to warrant her release, and current procedures don’t give her access to an immigration court custody hearing to review her continued detention. She has been detained in these two Texas detention facilities for over six months, first in Willacy and then in Pearsall. Sadly, asylum seekers are sometimes detained for even longer while they pursue their requests for protection. Another Burmese refugee we assisted was detained at yet another Texas immigration jail for two years before finally being released from that facility.

What kind of justice and compassion are we showing to those who come to this country seeking refuge? For all those detained at such facilities across the country, reform is long overdue.

The Secure and Safe Detention and Asylum Bill would implement some important recommendations of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and add much-needed safeguards to the immigration detention system. It would improve standards relating to the conditions of detention and medical care, allow immigration courts to review continuing detention for asylum seekers like this Burmese woman, and create an office of detention oversight. These reforms are critical steps towards ensuring that this country lives up to its deeply held values of justice, fairness and welcoming the persecuted.

by Eleanor Acer

Willacy Detention Center: A Tent City

Today’s count: 1,700 detainees

On Wednesday, we visited the Willacy Detention Center in Raymondville, TX, accompanied by representatives of community groups, churches and faith-based groups, as well as pro bono legal service organizations. The Willacy Detention Center – dubbed “Ritmo” by local attorney Jodi Goodwin in an interview with The Washington Post – opened in August of 2006 and consists of 10 large tent-like structures with the capacity to hold 2,000 immigration detainees (1,500 men and 500 women). At the time of our visit, the detention center housed a little over 1,700 detainees. Since October 1, 2007, over 15,000 asylum seekers and immigrants have been detained at the facility.

As we drove up to the facility, the view of 10 large white tents made us wonder how exactly the facility accommodated 2,000 detainees. We were told the tents were “sprung structures,” made of steel beams covered by a synthetic-type fabric. The inside of each tent is separated into 4 “pods,” each holding 50 people. Detainees eat, sleep, and use the bathroom and showers in the same open area within the pod. The toilet and showers are separated from the eating area by only a low wall. In a new building, currently under construction, the bathroom is set up so that a sink and mirror are positioned, making it so that one detainee could be brushing his or her teeth next to someone using the toilet. The bunk beds are lined up in rows close to each other and the beds are so narrow that one local attorney reported that two of her clients had fallen off their beds. As you might imagine, the sloping ceiling of the tent and lack of natural light (there is only one window in each pod) make the space feel incredibly cramped. The Willacy facility, however, does have a real outside area where detainees can be truly out of doors for their “recreation” period – unlike some other detention facilities, including the one in Pearsall.

While the materials used to erect the detention center may seem to be temporary, Willacy Detention Center isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. In June 2008, the facility will complete its expansion of another 1,000 beds. The additional detainees will be housed in a brick building, as opposed to a tent. It will be comprised of 20 pods, each with 50 beds. The set-up of these pods is very similar to the existing ones. The expansion also includes the introduction of 43 isolation rooms to be used for administrative and disciplinary segregation. This expansion will secure Willacy’s position as the largest immigration detention center in the country.

As with the Pearsall facility, the space made available for attorney-client visitation was inadequate. Attorney meeting rooms are tiny closets in which an attorney can sit on a small stool and talk to their client only through a small grate in a heavy plexiglass-type window. Reviewing an affidavit or discussing a document under these circumstances is virtually impossible, and discussing an asylum seeker’s history of persecution or torture in this setting is difficult to imagine. Moreover, while there are 4 courtrooms on site, there were no judges in the courtrooms. The judges are present for asylum and other hearings on a television screen and never see the detainee in person. In fact, all hearings at Willacy are held via televideo conference from San Antonio. The remote nature of the justice system at both Willacy and Pearsall left us with more concerns about these facilities. Stay posted for more from us about these facilities and the impact of detention on those who seek asylum in this country.

Challenges to Legal Representation at Pearsall Detention Center

Today’s count: 1,490 detainees (1,113 males and 277 females)

Today we visited the South Texas Detention Complex (Pearsall Immigration Detention Center), accompanied by representatives of major law firms and faith-based and community groups that are concerned about the asylum seekers and immigrants held at the facility. U.S. immigration officials for ICE (the immigration enforcement branch of the Department of Homeland Security) conducted our tour, met with us, and spent several hours with our groups.

As we mentioned previously, there are many problems with detainee access to legal representation at Pearsall. To begin with, there are only three attorney visitation rooms in the entire facility – a facility with a capacity for 1,904 detainees. That comes to 1 attorney visitation room for about 600 detainees! Lack of sufficient attorney visitation rooms seriously hinders an effective representation process for detainees, since their attorneys must compete for limited time slots and space with other legal service providers. Not providing sufficient attorney visitation rooms can create delays, in some cases forcing attorneys to wait for hours before gaining access to the facility to meet with their clients. When we asked Jay Sparks, Pearsall Detention Center’s Assistant Field Office Director, why there weren’t more attorney visitation rooms, he explained that Pearsall was originally built to house only 1,020 detainees, so the three rooms satisfied the original construction plan. While three attorney visitation rooms for over 1,000 detainees would still be inadequate, we inquired whether there had been a plan to add new attorney visitation rooms when the facility was expanded to1,904 beds or if there were plans to add such rooms in the future. Mr. Sparks said the facility as built could not physically accommodate more attorney visitation rooms.

Furthermore, the remoteness of the detention facility from a major city center deserves to be stressed. Pearsall Detention Center is located in an isolated area, in the middle of cow pasture. Literally. As we mentioned yesterday, the facility is over two hours from the nearest hub of non-profit and legal organizations (Austin), and one hour from San Antonio. While we anticipated that the issue of distance creates a problem for accessing legal representation, it turns out it also makes it more difficult to recruit and retain full-time employees to work at the facility, including medical personnel – who are undoubtedly necessary for the safe and effective running of the facility. Prospective employees must contend with the cost of commuting from San Antonio or elsewhere to Pearsall. Attorneys face the same time and monetary expenses, making it especially hard for pro bono representatives to provide legal counsel to detainees at Pearsall.

The facility is so remote, in fact, that it has become common practice to use televideo conferencing for court hearings and screenings of arriving asylum seekers for credible fear interviews. But the use of televideo conferencing for asylum seekers hinders the judges’ and asylum officers’ ability to make an informed finding as to the applicant’s credibility, a key finding at the credible fear interview stage and the merits hearing.

In addition, given that the availability of pro bono attorneys is so limited at Pearsall, we tried to assess the prospects facing detainees who decide to press their cases without counsel, or pro se. A visit to the law library during the tour revealed an absolute lack of legal materials in any language other than English. How then would an asylum seeker, from say, Burma prepare an asylum application if unable to find pro bono legal representation? When many of detainees, particularly asylum seekers, are non-English speaking, the law library offers little assistance in preparing complex petitions for relief.

Everything we mentioned just skims the surface of the legal, medical, and other challenges facing asylum seekers and others in detention at Pearsall. We hope that becoming informed – and informing others – about these circumstances will be the first step in working to address the situation.

Asylum Seekers Detained in Isolated Pearsall Facility

We pulled into Pearsall, Texas – population just over 7,000 – at dusk after a long and productive day of meetings in San Antonio. We met with representatives from community groups and legal service organizations, some of whom will be joining us on our tour of the detention center tomorrow. Our objective in holding these meetings was to learn what the greatest challenges and concerns are for those assisting asylum seekers and others detained at Pearsall.

Tomorrow at 9:00am we will begin our visit of the detention center. Pearsall Detention Center, a facility run by a private contractor, The GEO Group, Inc., was created in 2005 and has capacity for 1,904 detainees. There are 66 beds for children to be held in detention as well. Local advocates estimate that there are 250 asylum seekers in the facility at any given time. Refugees at Pearsall Detention Center come from a wide range of countries, including Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Burma, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Colombia.

Our concerns for Pearsall Detention Center are numerous. To offer just one of many recurring themes in our conversations with local groups, detainees at Pearsall receive very limited access to legal representation. This problem is created most fundamentally by the great distance between major cities and the town of Pearsall; Pearsall Detention Center is 55 miles (1 hour) from San Antonio and 134 miles (2 hours) from Austin. The distance alone makes it incredibly cumbersome for private and public attorneys to take on cases of detained asylum seekers and others.

Despite the remoteness of the facility, just this past week some groups mobilized to bring attention to recent allegations of sexual abuse at Pearsall. Moreover, as highlighted by a local reporter, several civil rights groups, including LULAC, now plan to visit the facility and have stated that they will stage a protest if they are not able to meet with the warden.

Clearly, attention recent media attention has shown a light on the needs of detainees held at Pearsall. We expect that our visit tomorrow will help us better understand the challenges faced by this vulnerable and neglected population.

Visiting Pearsall and Willacy Detention Centers Next Week

Next week, three of us from Human Rights First’s Refugee Protection Program will be in Texas to visit the South Texas Detention Center in Pearsall, TX (more commonly referred to as Pearsall Detention Center) on Tuesday and Willacy County Detention Center in Raymondville, TX on Wednesday. Joining us on the visit to the facilities will be representatives of local legal service providers, pro bono law firms, faith-based groups, and community organizations. While in the area, we will visit the facilities, speak to detained asylum seekers, and confer with local legal service organizations and community groups. We plan to blog from the road, so check back next week for our posts.

In the News:

This week’s The Washington Post series “Careless Detention”, “Detention in America” on 60 Minutes, and The New York Times’ reports on immigrant death in detention aptly characterize the grave plight of asylum seekers and other immigrants in detention and bring much needed national attention to these issues.

To learn more about asylum seekers in detention, visit Human Rights First’s Refugee Protection Program website.