By Frankie DeFaria

ICE is failing. People are dying and families are left broken. The immigration system is in dire need of reform and those it threatens are in desperate need of help. 

Since 2003, U.S. Border Patrol has nearly doubled in staff and funding; still, there have been an astronomical amount of reported abuses within ICE detention facilities. In attempt to keep conditions at the facilities adequate, The Flores Agreement requires minors in ICE custody to be housed in facilities that meet certain standards: safe and sanitary facilities, toilets and sinks, clean drinking water and food, medical assistance, temperature control, supervision, contact with family members, along with other basic necessities. 

Time and time again, ICE fails to meet these standards, putting immigrants and their children at risk. 2018 inspections of the facilities found nooses in detainee cells, inadequate medical care, rotten food, overcrowded centers, etc. Since 2004, there have been 97 reported fatalities, 24 of which have occurred under the Trump administration, in ICE custody and at the hands of CPB agents as of 2019. It is obvious that the conditions of these facilities are inadequate for the immigrants being held in the detention centers and people are dying because of it. 

In April of 2017, Carlos Bonilla, a father of 4, told the medical staff at Hudson County Correctional Center — which housed many ICE detainees– about his liver cirrhosis. Throughout the few months Bonilla stayed at the facility, he developed a cough, stomach pain, rash, fever, dizziness, and nose bleeds– all of which are symptoms of complications from cirrhosis. Bonilla pleaded for medical attention for weeks. On June 8, the day of his hearing that determined if he would be released on bond, he was belatedly rushed to the hospital; he died there two days later due to internal bleeding and hemorrhagic shock.  

Moreover, there have been 3 reported deaths since April, 2020. Abel Reyes-Clemente, a 54 year-old man from Mexico died in his cell at an Arizona detention facility. ICE reported that his death was due to complications from the flu, but an autopsy revealed that he had, in fact, died from cirrhosis, diabetes, and heart disease due to a lack of medical attention. Johana Medina Leon, a 25 year-old Salvadoran trans woman, was diagnosed with HIV while in ICE custody. After falling ill, ICE transported her to a hospital and released her from their custody the day she arrived– likely so that the department would not have to issue a press release nor issue a death review. Leon died in the hospital after being in ICE custody for 6 weeks. In addition to the lack of physical medical attention provided for immigrants, mental health of the detainees is often neglected. 21year-old immigrant from India Simratpal Singh hung himself in his cell in Arizona; But ICE released a press statement saying that he was simply found unresponsive in his cell.

Only to add onto this crisis, children are also repeatedly mistreated by the detention centers and many have died in ICE custody; the children there suffer from a lack of hygiene, are crammed into holding cells, and are served nutritionally inadequate food. From 2018-2019, at least 7 children were known to have died in immigration’s custody. Among them was Jakelin Caal Maquin. Jakelin was 7 years old when she died in ICE custody. Jakelin’s father told CPB against that she was feeling very sick before leaving on a 90 mile bus ride to another facility. Jakelin was forced to wait an hour and a half before receiving medical care. Soon after she died from a rapidly progressive infection that shut down her vital organs. Similarly, at 10 years old, Darlyn Valle was taken into ICE custody. Darlyn had preexisting congenital heart defects. When in custody, she underwent a surgical procedure that left her in a coma; she was transported from Arizona to her mother in Nebraska. She died three days later. For 7 months she was held in ICE custody when she could have been with her mother. Also stripped from her own mother, 1 year-old Mariee Juarez died soon after she was released from ICE custody due to a respiratory illness she developed while held in the detention center. More common causes of death among the children in ICE custody are influenza and pneumonia; Carlos Gregorio Hernández Vásquez (16), Wilmer Josué Ramírez Vásquez (2), Juan de León Gutiérrez (16), and Felipe Gómez Alonzo (8), were among the 7 and all fell victim to these diseases. 

ICE is failing. Immigrants and immigrant children in detention centers are going days, weeks, even months, without medical attention of any form– while barely surviving in indigent conditions. These men, women, and children listed are not the only ones who have perished at the hands of our government; there are plenty more. People are dying and families are left broken. The immigration system is in dire need of reform and those it threatens are in desperate need of help.