An ICE detention center in Florence, Arizona, has been under fire for mistreatment of detainees.
An advocacy group said it spoke with dozens of detainees who report being held longer than the 72 hours allowed, along with describing the living conditions as “inhumane” and “deplorable.”
Representative Adelita Grijalva (D) from Arizona’s Seventh Congressional District joined “Arizona Horizon” to share what she observed. She also discussed the latest issues, including the war in Iran.
According to Grijalva, the detention center is intended to serve as a short-term processing facility before people are transferred to another facility or are sent to another country; however, she has seen the opposite.
“It’s the unannounced visits that are really the only way I feel like I can get an accurate read as to what’s really happening,” Grijalva said. “The facilities that I’ve seen are really horrible.”
Grijalva said the most severe problem she saw was the overcrowding. She cited one Mesa detention center that was so overcrowded that people could not sit down, “without sitting two and three on top of each other.” In attempts to combat this problem and others, Grijalva introduced new legislation that would limit the time detainees can spend in short-term ICE facilities to 12 hours.
Some supporters of detention centers argue that the conditions of the detention centers are not meant to be comfortable because they hold people who are allegedly criminals. Grijalva says that is false.
“The people that are in these facilities, the fast majority have committed no crime,” Grijalva said. “There is a man that I saw in Florence, visited him. Four months later he was released and now he has legal permanent resident status. If he was such a hardened criminal and he was such a risk to this country, why would we give him legal permanent residence?”
Despite efforts by advocates and lawmakers, Grijalva says things are getting worse. She credited the trend to efforts by the Trump administration to opening additional detention facilities.
