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A new report on sexual abuse in the prison
system commissioned by Congress through the
unanimous passage of the Rape Elimination Act of
2003 finds that immigrant detainees -- men,
women, and children -- are especially vulnerable
to sexual assault and need extra protections.
In one particularly disturbing example, the
Commission report found that the Krome detention
center in Miami has a record of over 20 years of
abuse perpetrated by immigration officials,
ranging from sexual harassment and fondling
during searches to molestation and rape. Women
who reported rape were denied gynecological
exams or other treatment, in line with a
standard lack of health care in detention; two
actually became pregnant by immigration
officers. Yet there has been little
accountability, and in 2008, the Florida
Immigrant Advocacy Center was still reporting
cases of sexual assault.
The report finds that "officers who are
included to abuse their authority have an
astounding degree of leverage, especially when
detainees are not well-informed of their rights
and lack access to legal counsel." As I
posted on the Women's Right blog last week,
immigration officials have been found to force
sexual favors from detained women through the
threat of immediate deportation, being held in
isolation, or getting transferred to another
facility. When there are entire families in
detention, officials will threaten to separate
them, so abused parents will keep silent in fear
of having their children taken away in
retaliation.
The Supreme Court has ruled, "Sexual
abuse is 'not part of the penalty that criminal
offenders pay for their offenses against
society" -- and the vast majority of
immigrant detainees don't even have criminal
records. Though they become de facto prisoners,
detention is not legally a punishment: it's
merely a holding center for suspected
undocumented immigrants, who face a wait of
usually at least a year as their case proceeds
through immigration courts. Some may be innocent
of even an administrative violation of
immigration law, and are waiting to prove this
and be released.
One-tenth of detainees are petitioning for
asylum, often after fleeing the likelihood of
death in their country of origin; many suffer
from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) due
to the violence they've seen or torture they
themselves were subject to. This trauma makes
them easier targets for abuse as they are less
likely to be able to cope and try to protect
themselves. There are also detained children,
many survivors of human trafficking, who
unfortunately the system treats as criminal
offenders rather than victims. Youth's reports
of being molested or sexually assaulted have
been ignored by guards.
Detainees' vulnerability is further increased
when they cannot communicate, a problem faced
by, for instance, Vietnamese-speaking detainees
in Texas jails. Cultural differences can deter
detainees from reporting sexual assault, since
victims can be viewed as the ones
"shaming" themselves and their family.
In addition, many detainees simply don't know
they can report sexual assault, or who to report
it to, especially when they are being victimized
and intimidated by staff. Yet these victims may
actually be eligible for a special
"U-visa," which allows abuse victims
to remain in the United States legally.
The Commission report makes a number of
recommendations for standards to protect
immigrant detainees, including improved access
to medical and mental health care; screenings to
identify detainees at high risk for abuse and to
remove the few who do have criminal records from
the general population; better avenues for
reporting, investigating, and punishing sexual
abuse; protections for abuse victims and
witnesses; and education of detainees about
their rights.
Photo credit: egenerica
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