Dear John, 

This Mental Health Awareness Month, we’d like to highlight an important issue that the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) is fighting at every level to address: the impact that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention has on the mental health of immigrants. 

Vicky is a transgender woman from Central America who has fought and continues to fight against all odds to seek protection in the United States. She fled her home country as a teenager to seek safety in the United States after she was brutally attacked for dressing in alignment with her gender identity. In the United States, she had no support and unknowingly fell into a labor trafficking situation, which led to a drug conviction and eventually a deportation order. Back in her home country, Vicky feared for her life once again, and fled to the United States again in August 2019. 

When she returned to the United States, the U.S. government chose to criminally prosecute her for re-entering the country without permission, under a punitive statute that continues to cause lasting harm to immigrant communities. After serving time for the re-entry conviction, Vicky was transferred to ICE custody in March 2022. She was detained for over a a year with the general male population in a privately operated Louisiana detention facility, despite ICE knowing that she is a transgender woman. Vicky repeatedly expressed fear for her physical safety, but officials told her that her only options were to remain detained with men or be placed in solitary confinement. After NIJC helped her file a civil rights complaint, Vicky was transferred to a segregated unit for transgender immigrants at another privately operated detention center in Colorado. She described the toll of ICE detention on her mental health in testimony for a complaint NIJC filed on her behalf last year:

“After being detained for so long — especially surrounded by men — I am really struggling with my mental health. I would like to receive counseling to help work through my depression, anxiety, and panic attacks. I have lived through a lot of traumatic experiences, both in [my home country] and here in the United States, that have taken a toll on my mental health and well-being. Being detained for a prolonged period and being forced to hide my gender identity for my own safety has caused me great suffering, both physically and in regards to my emotional well-being.”

In a second civil rights complaint recently filed by American Immigration Council, National Immigration Project, and Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network calling on ICE to stop detaining transgender people, Vicky describes requesting to speak to a therapist to help manage her stress and anxiety, but being denied access by ICE.

NIJC’s team was one of several advocates and organizations who together supported Vicky and fought for her release as incarceration took an increasing toll on her health.  We are grateful to share that after two years spent in immigration detention, she recently was released on bond.

The U.S. government has the responsibility to provide care for people held in immigration detention. Instead, ICE persistently violates the rights of people in detention facilities, including failing to provide adequate assessment and treatment for individuals suffering from mental health issues. People who identify as LGBTQ+ have been particularly vulnerable to discrimination and abuse in ICE detention, which exacerbates trauma and mental illness.

NIJC also continues our work to end the use of solitary confinement in immigration detention–a practice ICE commonly uses to respond to people struggling with mental health issues inside detention.

“Vicky has survived inhumane conditions illustrative of the detrimental mental health impact of solitary confinement, and ICE detention overall,” said Jesse Franzblau, senior policy analyst at NIJC. “We are grateful for Vicky’s supporters, as well as members of Congress calling for the closure of ICE detention facilities and an end to the rampant abuses. Vicky’s story demonstrates the urgent need to end the use of solitary confinement, and move towards phasing out the use of immigration detention altogether.”  

If you would like to join us in the work to end solitary confinement, join us along with the Federal Anti-Solitary Taskforce and National Immigration Project for the End Solitary Confinement Day of Action today, Thursday, May 16 at 12 pm ET. In this webinar, you will hear from advocates supporting people who have spent time in solitary confinement and Physicians For Human Rights will share findings and recommendations from its recent report. Register here.

Sincerely,

Morgan Drake
Staff Attorney and Equal Justice Works Fellow at NIJC

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NATIONAL IMMIGRANT JUSTICE CENTER
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