Lack of Accountability in U.S Immigration Detention

Troubling new reports and a poor decision by the Administration this past week highlight the extreme risk for sexual abuse facing immigration detainees. Sexual assault in detention tends to occur in settings with inadequate management and little accountability. Unfortunately, recent investigations by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights(IACHR) and the National Immigration Law Center depict U.S.immigration detention as just that: poorly managed and lacking in oversight. Federal immigration detainees are kept in hundreds of contracted facilities across the country -- including county jails and private prisons -- yet there are no legally enforceable standards for the treatment of these detainees. Sadly, the Obama Administration recently rejected the idea of formalizing current immigration detention guidelines into binding federal regulations. This decision goes against what JDI and other human rights groups, including the IACHR, have recommended, and it blatantly contradicts President Obama's early statements about the importance of transparency and accountability.

To learn more, please see JDI's fact-sheet Sexual Abuse In U.S. Immigration Detention.