ICE Detainees Ironically Face Heat Risks

ICE detention centers are more likely than other jails
and prisons to be in hot parts of the nation. ICE
is allegedly holding detainees in dangerously
hot conditions. 

The word play is ironic, and infuriating. 

According to a Washington Post analysis by Amudalat Ajasa and Daniel Wolfe: 

 "Detainees at U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities may be more vulnerable to extreme heat exposure than people housed in federal, state and county prisons, according to a Washington Post analysis, and this disparity is likely to grow as ICE expands the nation's immigration system."

ICE expects to double the number of people it can hold from about 55,000 to more than 170,000.

Meanwhile, ICE facilities are disproportionately in hotter parts of the nation. According to WaPo's analysis:

"The facility endure an average of 29 days of dangerous heat per year - 11 more than other prisons in the federal, state and county leave. The hottest 10 percent of ICE facilities experience an average of 93 days of unhealthy temperatures each year."

Advocates, watchdog agencies and others report lots of problems with air conditioning in detention centers, at least according to the detainees who told them about the issues. Comprehensive data on the temperatures in those detention centers are not available. 

WaPo was able to compile reports and some Congressional oversight reports to glean some information. 

A 2016 DHS report on private immigrations detention centers found that detainees at every facility that was investigated detainees complained of problems with heat and cooling. Unannounced inspections at ICE facilities found that staffers "struggled to comply" with detention standards "related to environmental and health safety. 

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill) reported lots of trouble and overheating at two Florida ICE facilities he visited in June. 

WaPo's Ajasa and Wolfe also got into the Eloy Detention Center, which is 60 miles south of Phoenix, Arizona. They wrote:

"In a June letter, Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Az, pressed DHS and ICE officials about conditions at Eloy following a visit to the detention center. The letter included allegations that detainees ha been ordered to walk laps in a courtyard for hours until they were dizzy and ill. 

'Detainees described overcrowded, moldy cells, forces and dehumanizing marches outside in the Arizona heat, constant berating from guards conditions worse tha prison,' Ansari said in a statement at the time of her visit."

In statements to an immigration and refugee advocacy group, two detainees said they'd use wet rags and damp underclothes to cool themselves because the air condition units there in the middle of the desert would go out for a week or two or more at a time. Other detainees said air conditioning in some cells never worked at all. 

DHS denies there were problems with air conditioning at Eloy.  

I know a lot of readers here will say:  "So what! They're getting what they deserve!"  

Well, no. 

Definitely, let's get rid of the alleged criminals and rapists and gang members the Trump Administration said were among the migrants in the U.S. We don't want those dangerous people  here. 

But this used to be a nation of due process. You find out whether individuals are indeed as nasty and alleged, and then we deport and/or give them prison sentences. 

But they're rounding up what seems to be immigrants who are trying to do the right thing, take the legal paths to citizenship, and just throwing 'em all in detention centers. Mostly because Stephen Miller doesn't like brown people. 

Apparently, Miller, and the rest of the Trump administration seem intent on using our summertime heat as one method of torture. 

Cruelty is the point.