ACLU Response to Office of Inspector General Report on ICE Detention Inspections

WASHINGTON — A report released by the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security today shows the inspections and monitoring of detention facilities conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement are, in effect, a charade. The report shows that ICE fails to ensure compliance with basic detention standards in its 211 detention facilities, which include private prisons and county jails. Moreover, when violations are found, there is little to no accountability. This news comes on the heels of DHS’s plans to jail tens of thousands of additional immigrants, including children and their parents, on military bases.

Madhuri Grewal, federal immigration policy counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union, had the following response:

“This report is a damning indictment of ICE. The independent DHS inspector general has exposed how ineffectual ICE inspections are, and how delinquent the agency is in addressing serious violations. In some cases, inspectors have outright lied — and were caught by the inspector general during the course of its investigation.

“It has been clear for decades — after a constant stream of reports by independent government agencies and NGOs — that ICE is a rogue agency with little to no oversight or accountability. We are nearing 200 deaths in ICE detention. It is time to demand that Congress stop funding ICE’s jailing of immigrants and reject the Trump administration’s attempts to build massive family prison camps.”