Hundreds of reports of alleged human rights abuses continue to come out of ICE detention centers

LUMPKIN – Reports and stories of abuse, medical mistreatment and inhumane conditions continue to flow from immigration detention centers across the U.S., including southwest Georgia’s Stewart Detention Center. 

Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., released a report on a months-long investigation that identified “more than 500 credible reports of human rights abuses” across six different immigration detention facilities. This report includes 14 reports of mistreatment of pregnant women and 18 reports of mistreatment of children. Ossoff began his ongoing investigation into conditions at immigration detention centers in January. His investigators have interviewed dozens of witnesses, including correctional staff, law enforcement and agency officials, attorneys, doctors as well as detainees and their families. 

Agency officials reported pregnant women sleeping on the floors of crowded intake cells, pregnant women in pain or bleeding and receiving inadequate medical care, and children with severe medical issues being denied adequate care, according to Ossoff’s report. 

“In one case that I noted in particular, the report we received was that a child was vomiting blood, a mother begging for medical attention, and a U.S. official advising that they just give the girl a cracker,” Ossoff said. 

Ossoff said calling for the safety of pregnant women and children inside these detention centers should be bipartisan.

“No matter our views on border security and immigration policy, Americans are united in rejecting the abuse of children and pregnant women,” he said. “These detention facilities, absent some pressing threat to public safety, are no place for children or pregnant women.”

Marsha Griffin, a board-certified pediatrician and member of the Academy of Pediatrics Council on Immigrant Child and Family Health, said the current conditions inside these detention facilities are worse than during the first Trump Administration. She said no amount of time in detention is safe for a child, and family detention disrupts the sacred parent/child relationship. 

“Even short periods can cause psychological stress … trauma and it affects their long-term health,” Griffin said. “Children in detention experience high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, suicidality and high incidences of behavioral problems.”

She called for access to care and oversight in facilities holding children. 

“This must include pediatric experts to go in who understand child health and know what signs and symptoms are dangerous,” Griffin said.

Ossoff called for more public pressure on the administration to protect the human rights of children and pregnant women. In 2022, Ossoff unveiled a nearly two-year bipartisan investigation that found female detainees at the Irwin County detention Center in Ocilla were subjected to “invasive, and often unnecessary gynecological procedures.” This investigation and resulting public pressure led to ICE severing its ties with the detention center. 

Advocacy groups, community members and family members of detention center detainees have long been rallying against abuse inside the Stewart Detention Center, calling for its closure. 

A group, including El Refugio, a hospitality house for families visiting loved ones at Stewart, Black Alliance for Just Immigration and the New Disabled South rallied outside of the Stewart center Tuesday to demand the release of Rodney Taylor, an Atlanta-based barber, and others wrongfully held at the center. 

Taylor, a double amputee, was detained by ICE in January and was threatened with deportation to Liberia, a country he left when he was a toddler. The basis for Taylor’s arrest was a felony burglary conviction that he pleaded guilty to at 19 years old and was pardoned from in 2010, according to CNN. Taylor, now 46, a father and a beloved Atlanta barber, continues to be held at Stewart where advocates report he is being denied basic, essential medical care. 

Amilcar Valencia, El Refugio’s executive director, said Taylor spent his first few months in detention with inadequate prosthetics for his legs. 

“He had to rely on somebody else to bring food to him … just to move around,” Valencia said. 

Recently Taylor was unable to charge his prosthetic and was placed in solitary confinement after complaining about flooding in the common area outside his cell because his electronic prosthetic legs couldn’t get wet.

Advocates are calling for Taylor and others who they believe to be wrongfully detained to be released. 

Valencia said the average daily population at Stewart has risen from around 1,500 to more than 1,800 people since President Trump took office. 

El Refugio has frequent communications with detainees at Stewart, whether through family members visiting their loved ones or through El Refugio volunteers who speak with detainees during visitation hours. Valencia said they hear consistent stories of overcrowded cells, neglect for those with disabilities and mental illness, and more concerning tales of suicide attempts. Some families report to El Refugio volunteers they were denied communication with loved ones placed in solitary confinement. 

“People are sleeping on the floor; there are not enough showers … bathrooms,” he said. “People with concerning medical conditions are waiting a long time to receive proper attention.” 

Stewart Detention Center has reported at least 13 deaths at its facility since 2006. The June 7 death of Jesus Molina-Veya, a Mexican citizen, was confirmed to be the third confirmed suicide death at Stewart. 

“We were told that several people in the unit saw him, dead in the cell,” Valencia said. “It took almost five days until ICE released his information.”

He said ICE officials must look closer at detainees’ cases to identify those with mental health issues or severe medical conditions. He said seniors and pregnant women shouldn’t be taken into custody at all and detention centers should ensure proper staffing of medical personnel and mental health providers. 

Ultimately, Valencia said advocates are calling for Stewart Detention Center’s closure.

“We want Stewart shut down,” he said. “Thirteen deaths already and the facility continues to operate like nothing can happen … no repercussions. There are no legal ramifications for the corporation, and that needs to be fixed.” 

The Albany Herald has previously reached out to CoreCivic, the company that operates Stewart Detention Center for comment on these human rights abuse concerns and received no response. 

The Department of Homeland Security denounced Ossoff’s report and maintains detainees in ICE custody are provided with proper meals, medical treatment and adequate communication with lawyers and family members. Ossoff called the DHS statement a “blanket denial without any due diligence or investigations of these credible reports of human rights abuses.”