Immigration Detention in California
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra
Under one of California’s “sanctuary” laws, the California Attorney General was required to issue a report on immigrant detention in the state. As described in the first report,
“California is one of the first states to examine the daily operations of detention facilities housing civil immigration detainees. After public reports of distressing conditions and several deaths in detention facilities surfaced with little to no transparency, the California Legislature enacted Assembly Bill 103 (AB 103) in June 2017. Under AB 103’s 10-year mandate, the California Department of Justice is charged with reviewing and reporting back to the Legislature, the Governor, and the public about the conditions of confinement, including how those conditions impact due process, and the circumstances around apprehension and transfer of detainees in public and privately operated locked detention facilities housing immigration detainees in California.”
The conclusion of the executive summary:
“Our review found that the detainee experience varies drastically within and across facilities. Common issues among a number of facilities, however, are the following:
• Restrictions on Liberty: Immigration detainees in California, whether housed in jails or private facilities, have extremely limited freedom of movement. Some detainees may be confined to cells for 22 hours a day, while others in dormitory-style housing have greater ability to move about their housing units. Facilities’ use of force and search policies, and harsh disciplinary practices also affect detainee liberty, sometimes resulting in restrictions that are unnecessarily severe in relation to detainees’ backgrounds and the purpose of their confinement, or imposing a chilling effect on immigration detainees’ perception of their freedom of movement.
• Language Barriers: For a vast number of individuals held in immigration custody in California, English is not their primary language. While some orientation material and postings may be available in English and Spanish, and many facilities do employ Spanish-speaking staff, no facility has staff who are able to communicate in all the languages spoken by immigration detainees. Lack of bilingual staff and failure to access alternative language services hinder both the staff’s ability to convey facility rules to detainees, and detainees’ ability to understand those rules. This can lead to discipline or treatment by staff that appears arbitrary and abusive, and prevents facilities from meeting detainees’ legitimate needs. It also compromises confidentiality because detainees must rely on other detainees to communicate with staff.
• Issues with Access to Medical and Mental Health Care: While medical and mental health care vary across facilities, common issues we found include medical record accuracy and accessibility, nurses practicing outside their legal scope of practice, superficial medical examinations, delayed or inadequate medical care, inadequate mental health staffng and services, and unsafe suicide watch and disciplinary isolation (solitary confnement) practices.
• Obstacles to Contacting Family and Other Support Systems: Detainees’ ability to stay in contact with family and friends is difficult while in detention. Many of the detention facilities housing immigrants in California are located far from city centers, with limited access by public transportation. None of the adult county jail facilities permit contact visits (without a glass barrier between the visitor and the detainee) with family or friends. Contact via telephone is limited by the facility’s scheduled times for phone calls, the high cost of making calls, and technical barriers.
• Barriers to Adequate Representation: Individuals in immigration proceedings do not have a right to appointed counsel. Detainees face several challenges to obtaining counsel or adequately representing themselves. Not all detention facilities in California offer consistent legal orientation programs, and when detainees are able to contact pro bono counsel numbers provided by facilities, many organizations are unable to take on new clients. Further, many facilities do not facilitate confidential legal phone calls for detainees who have or are seeking counsel or advice. Legal materials provided to detainees are difficult to access, are rarely offered in languages other than English and Spanish, and may be out of date.
These challenges are exacerbated by federal detention standards, which are designed for criminal incarceration. Those standards fail to meet the unique needs of individuals in immigration detention, such as their lack of government-funded counsel, unique mental health issues, and significant language and cultural barriers. Cal DOJ will continue to bring transparency to the issue of immigration detention through these reports.”
KJ