Dirty Water, Spoiled Food: Report Details Conditions for Asylum-Seekers in Detention

Frozen or spoiled food, not enough water, no toothbrush or toothpaste, verbal abuse.

These are some of the conditions that asylum-seekers reported experiencing while in immigration detention, including in Border Patrol stations and Customs and Border Protection facilities, according to a new study from the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at UC San Diego.

The report includes data from intake forms completed by 7,300 asylum-seeking heads of households who passed through the San Diego Rapid Response Network shelter between October 2018 and June 2019. Though some of the respondents were seeking asylum on their own, a large majority of them were with their families.

Reporters and members of Congress have previously detailed the conditions in immigration detention, but this is the first data-based study on the subject.

"We've previously only had anecdotal accounts of substandard conditions or mistreatment of asylum-seekers in immigration detention centers," said Tom K. Wong, who heads the Immigration Policy Center and co-authored the report. "These data provide a systematic account of the experiences that asylum-seekers are facing.

"[It] paints a very bleak portrait that substandard conditions and mistreatment appear to be the rule not the exception when it comes to how we're treating asylum-seekers at our southern border," he added.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to KQED's requests for comment about the report. But officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection told The Associated Press that the agency "provides the migrants three meals daily, drinks, unlimited snacks and hygiene products," and "contracts for translation services when officers cannot determine migrants' primary languages."

One out of every three people surveyed complained of conditions in detention facilities, treatment within the facilities or medical issues, the report found. The average stay in border detention for the people surveyed was three days.

While two-thirds of the people surveyed did not report problems, Wong says that doesn't mean they didn't experience them.

"We are talking to people who have been admitted into the U.S. and still have immigration claims pending," said Wong. "Some of these individuals may have experienced either substandard conditions or mistreatment, but may not have reported it out of fear that it may negatively affect their immigration proceedings."

Among those who reported issues in immigration detention:

• 61.8% reported issues related to food and water, which included "being fed frozen or spoiled food, not having enough to eat, not being given formula for infants, not being given water and having to drink dirty water," among other problems.
• 34.5% reported issues related to hygiene, such as "not being able to shower, dirty bathrooms and not having a toothbrush or toothpaste to brush their teeth."
• 45.6% reported being unable to sleep in detention, as well as "overcrowded conditions, confinement and the temperature being too cold."

The survey also found:

• 232 respondents said they'd experienced verbal abuse while in detention.
• 40 other respondents said they'd experienced physical abuse, including being thrown against a wall.
• 18 people reported having their personal property taken from them, including travel documents and passports.

"The data are screaming out at us that we are not treating asylum-seekers — again, those who are fleeing, in many cases, violence and seeking protection from persecution here in the United States — humanely," said Wong.

One of the most serious issues, according to Wong, is inadequate language access to critical legal documents.

The report found that for asylum-seekers whose primarily language is not Spanish, at least 20% of those who responded, a majority were nevertheless given documents in Spanish — rather than in their own language. Nearly half of the migrants assisted by the San Diego shelter were from Guatemala, and many spoke indigenous Mayan languages.

The legal documents included the family's "notice to appear," which gives the location and date of their hearing in immigration court, as well as instructions about when and where they must check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

"If there are some who are concerned that asylum-seekers ... do not show up to their immigration court date, then hopefully there is a common-sense solution, which is to make sure that we're delivering these important instructions about immigration proceedings in the languages that people understand," said Wong.

Wong said a copy of the report has been delivered to some members of Congress. Another report, detailing the conditions experienced by asylum-seekers who were returned to Mexico, is expected to come out in September.