The grievance system within U.S. immigration detention, intended as a safeguard against abuse, has largely collapsed, leaving thousands of people in federal custody without effective oversight. This breakdown impacts facilities operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and private contractors, creating a system where accountability is nearly non-existent.
Originally, the system offered a safe channel for detainees to report violations of detention standards, including mistreatment, unsanitary conditions, medical neglect and sexual assault, without fear of retaliation. It often served as the sole avenue for complaints, but it now barely functions and sometimes backfires on those who use it.
This failure has contributed to a record number of deaths in detention, with at least 53 fatalities recorded since President Trump's second term began. Critics assert that the lack of transparency and accountability, coupled with a failure to follow mandated grievance guidelines, directly causes more detainees to risk their lives in widespread hunger strikes.
The Department of Homeland Security declined to answer specific questions regarding its handling of detainee grievance claims. DHS also did not address inquiries about employee training, steps taken to ensure private contractors adhere to guidelines, or whether all facilities maintain a mandatory grievance committee. The department instead referred to the 2011 Performance-Based National Detention Standards.
Private-prison companies, including CoreCivic and The GEO Group, are the largest contractors running immigration detention centers. DHS's silence on ensuring these companies comply with grievance guidelines highlights a significant gap in federal oversight.
Neither ICE nor its private contractors are required to disclose the number of grievances filed annually at any given detention center to any external review body. Detention facility operators are not mandated to track how many complaints are deemed founded, how issues were resolved, or whether initial rejections were overturned. This absence of data prevents lawmakers and immigrant rights activists from identifying systemic problems at individual facilities or across the entire detention network.
The human cost of this broken system is exemplified by D.E. a detainee who has had a brain tumor for 12 years. He was apprehended by ICE just blocks from his home the week he was scheduled to begin chemotherapy.
While detained at the California City Detention Center, which holds over one thousand detainees, D.E. experienced two seizures. A CoreCivic guard was more than five hours late delivering his nightly dose of Keppra, a medication D.E. relied on twice daily to prevent convulsions.
