California's Immigrant detention are full of human rights abuses. We have the records and stories to prove it.

Friend –

For years, immigrants imprisoned in ice's California detention facilities have fought to uncover the grotesque conditions they suffer. As we write this, detained immigrants have relaunched labor and hunger strikes, a follow-up to last year's 35-day hunger strike. Six days after the labor strike began, ice announced that it would terminate its longstanding access to direct free legal phone calls secured by a previous lawsuit by the ACLU.

A set of brave detained immigrants mailed us copies of hundreds of records of abuse that ice would rather stay buried. Together, they document widespread human rights violations – from hazardous facilities unfit for human habitation to medical neglect, sexual assault, and other perversities.

You can read about our report on our website, <[link removed]> and we'd like to share the story of one of the immigrants we've worked with. We've given him the pseudonym Hector to protect his safety. This is what he told us:

Hector was a successful DJ in El Salvador who had built an audience of devoted radio listeners after years of work. As Hector's popularity grew, local gangs extorted him for money and tried to force him to help them spread gang propaganda. When he refused, they assaulted him with a baseball bat and threatened his life. So, in 2019, he made the painful decision to leave behind his family, friends, and career in El Salvador to seek asylum in the United States.

Hector arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border on February 10, 2020, the eve of the pandemic. The journey was grueling, especially due to Hector's gastroesophageal reflux disease, which caused severe burning in his throat. When left untreated, the condition can lead to cancer of the esophagus. Soon after his entry, border patrol agents detained Hector and sent him to the Otay Mesa Detention Center, a privately run facility in San Diego, California.

As COVID-19 surged across the country, including inside immigrant detention centers, Hector spent the first few months of his detention being shuttled from one facility to another. None of the passengers on the buses were given masks and they were packed tightly together. Hector watched nervously as unmasked people around him on the bus coughed and sneezed in the closed setting.

Conditions were not any better inside the detention centers. Government contractors ignored social distancing protocols and neglected basic sanitation and hygiene practices. When people predictably caught the virus, the staff refused to quarantine them.

In detention, Hector's gastroesophageal reflux disease worsened. The acid caused pain in his throat so intense that he could not sleep or swallow. The staff refused his request to see a doctor and instead advised him to file a grievance. He filed one, and then another, and then another. Before long, he had submitted dozens. But nothing changed. One day, while chewing his food, Hector felt his tooth fracture. It had grown brittle and rotten from the reflux.

Hector's experience is far from unique. You can read more stories like his on our website <[link removed]> and learn about the work that the ACLU of Northern California and our partners are doing to expose this injustice and bring an end to the cruel and unnecessary immigration detention system. Please share with your friends, family, or anyone else you know who believe in immigrant justice.

In solidarity,

Maricela Sanchez
Investigator, ACLU of Northern California


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