Deep within the walls of 630 Sansome Street in San Francisco, victims of ICE’s terror campaign reportedly live 24-hour days. Fluorescent lights in overcrowded cells never go out, making sleep impossible. As if sleep were possible there on bare floors and no mattress, no blanket, no shield of natural night. Want to brush your teeth, or bathe? Good luck without toothpaste, soap, or a shower. Need to use the toilet? Go in full view of everyone else, or hold it. This is life in a holding cell designed for twelve-hour stints, where ICE keeps people for nearly a week.
Then it’s off to concentration camps like the California City Detention Center, which the Guardian described as “Hell on Earth.”
On September 18, immigration rights lawyers supported by the ACLU filed a class-action lawsuit against the federal government. The suit alleges the ‘squalid’ and ‘inhumane’ conditions detailed above, which if substantiated, amount to nothing short of torture.
DHS denies allegations
I bring this to your attention because ICE benefits from lack of coverage on the matter. Just two major Bay Area news outlets, KTVU and KQED, are reporting on conditions at 630 Sansome. Of the people crammed into the detention center, four now have legal representation. Ligia Garcia was seeking asylum from Colombia. With no criminal record, she was arrested regardless after a recent court hearing. Carmen Aracely Pablo Sequen, an asylum-seeker from Guatemala, was likewise arrested—again, no criminal record. A breast-feeding mother also seeking asylum from Guatemala, Yulisa Alvarado Ambrocio was similarly taken into custody. She too has no criminal record. Martin Hernandez-Torres has lived in the United States for thirty years. An aging cancer patient, he too faced detention—reportedly without access to his medications.
The holding cells at the San Francisco ICE branch were meant for temporary custody, a stopover for inmates mid-transfer. Guarding the ethics of how the space was used: federal policy capping occupation at twelve hours. In January however, ICE successfully rolled back the policy, opening a back door for human rights violations of all kinds.
In a statement to KQED, ICE spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin denied the accusations. “Any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE detention centers are false,” she declared. “In fact, ICE has higher detention standards than most US prisons that hold actual US citizens. All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members. It is longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody.”
The lawsuit also alleges the federal government is violating their rights to fair hearings, to speak with their lawyers past 3 PM or on weekends, to appear before a judge without fear of ambush. The grounds immediately outside the detention center often swarm with masked ICE agents, a menacing presence threatening violence. The holding cells keep filling with more people, more shame and grief at a life that’s come to this.
"The ACLU should just change its name," McLaughlin said. "It’s clear they only care about illegal aliens—not Americans."
A disappearing act
North Bay Congressman Mike Thompson was “deeply concerned” about rumors of abuse at the San Francisco ICE detention center. Rep. Thompson is not involved with the lawsuit against the federal government. The congressman announced his intentions to inspect the building himself, smoothing feathers—and tipping off ICE in SF. By the time he arrived on September 22, the clean facility appeared to satisfy Rep. Thompson and discredit those accusations.
“While the conditions shown to me appeared orderly and maintained, leadership at the facility was given prior notice of my visit,” he told KQED. “I will continue to closely monitor reports of undue detainments and improper conditions at the immigration facilities near our community.”
Who’s to say DHS didn’t clean up their act for Rep. Thompson? How do we know that conditions didn’t deteriorate the moment he left the building? If ICE can clean it up for Thompson, they can maintain sanitary living conditions. I’m all but certain they’re choosing not to.
This is your reminder to keep your eyes on ICE. They’re still disappearing your friends and loved ones, your relatives, your colleagues. ICE profits off our silence and uses it to get away with war crimes. And they are violating people’s innate human rights right under our noses.
