Letter to the Hon. John F. Kelly, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security - Congressmembers Urge DHS to Increase Transparency of U.S. Detention System

Letter

Dear Secretary Kelly:

We write to express our concern about conflicting information we received from you regarding the expansion of immigration detention. During two separate meetings with Senate and House Democrats on March 29 and March 17, you reassured Senator Cory Booker and Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would not expand the immigration detention system. But on April 6, we learned that DHS had posted its intention to procure additional detention space with the GEO Group to detain up to 1,188 individuals.[1] This directly contradicts statements you made to Congress.

We are deeply concerned with the unprecedented 42,000 men, women, and children detained by DHS for immigration-related reasons. Detention on such a large scale is unacceptable. In addition, we have long-standing, serious concerns with detention conditions in both Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody as well as the agency's oversight of detention. For instance, there have been 14 deaths at the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona since October 2004. Although ICE's own death reviews have documented the facility's failure to provide adequate medical care, ICE continues to detain men and women at the facility. Moreover, even as immigration detention has expanded, there are still many facilities operating under the outdated 2000 National Detention Standards and 2008 Performance-Based National Detention Standards.

In order to increase transparency over the detention system, we urge you to communicate with us regarding detention operations and expansions and explore further alternatives to detention, such as release and release on reasonable bond, to help reduce the detained population and develop a concrete oversight plan to protect the human rights of those in detention. In addition to an oversight plan, we would appreciate regular communication about:

The acquisition or closure of facilities, including details on contractors, number of detention beds, and applicable detention standards.

Updates on the department's implementation of the most-recent performance-based detention standards and the

Prison Rape Elimination Act standards.

Monthly reports on the numbers of people detained in CBP and ICE facilities broken down by Area of Responsibility, gender, age, and country of origin.

Any deaths, suicides, or serious incidents, such as hunger strikes, that occur as well as any written reports on these incidents.

Any facility inspections that have occurred, including any deficiencies and the manner in which these deficiencies will be addressed.

Identification, by detention facility, of the size of the detainee population, the number of individuals held in solitary confinement or disciplinary segregation, the reasons for such confinement and the length of confinement.

Identification, by detention facility, of the number of grievances received from detainees, the nature of complaints and how each complaint was resolved.

Given the conflicting messages you have given us on immigration-related detention, we hope that you will respond promptly to clarify exactly how many people are currently detained by DHS, how many additional detention beds you seek to obtain in the future, and clarify the miscommunication as to why we were given inaccurate figures on detention during our separate meetings with you. We ask that you respond no later than Tuesday, May 26, 2017.

We look forward to hearing from you.