Democrats pay visit to ICE detention facility where abuse claims are rife

Two California lawmakers conducted an oversight visit on Thursday at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Otay Mesa detention center, an immigrant detention facility that has faced allegations of overcrowding, poor conditions and sexual assaults.

The visit had been previously scheduled. But Mike Levin, a Democratic congressman, told the Guardian he planned to conduct more unannounced visits following a federal court ruling that struck down the Trump administration’s policy of forcing members of Congress to announce oversight visits seven days in advance.

“It’s really critically important that we continue to show up unannounced as often as feasible to make sure that basic human dignity is being adhered to,” Levin said in an interview after the visit. “I’m not one that’s just going to take the word of those involved. I’m going to go there and find out for myself.”

Otay Mesa is run as a for-profit business by CoreCivic, the country’s largest private prison contractor. Located in San Diego near the US-Mexico border, the facility has the capacity to lock up 1,500 immigrant detainees.

Levin cited a long list of humanitarian concerns about the facility, including medical care, food, access to uninterrupted sleep, family visitation and access to legal counsel.

“We read all kinds of stories,” Levin said. “We hear from constituents.”

Levin said his office has repeatedly had problems with detainees struggling to locate and sign privacy waiver paperwork that members of Congress need to help them with their cases. Sara Jacobs, also a Democratic representative, toured the facility with him.

Some 1,037 detainees were locked up at the facility at the time of the visit, Levin said. The vast majority of the detainees he and Jacobs saw wore blue uniforms, indicating that they had no serious criminal histories or behavioral issues.

The members of Congress toured the medical facilities, the dining hall, the on-site courtrooms and the commissary. The facility appeared clean and the food edible, Levin said.

There have also been allegations of rape and sexual assault at the detention center, and a recent report from CalMatters raised questions about why the San Diego county sheriff’s office had declined to investigate seven claims from last year, allowing Otay Mesa staff to handle the cases instead.

Levin declined to comment on the sexual assault allegations until he had a chance to discuss them with the San Diego county sheriff, Kelly Martinez.

CoreCivic is also facing a lawsuit from San Diego county health inspectors who say they were denied entrance to Otay Mesa to conduct a state-required inspection.

“The safety, health and well-being of the individuals entrusted to our care is our top priority,” CoreCivic spokesperson Ryan Gustin wrote in a statement. “We take seriously our responsibility to adhere to all applicable federal detention standards in our ICE-contracted facilities, including our Otay Mesa Detention Center (OMDC).”

The Otay Mesa detention center reports all allegations of sexual assault to the San Diego county sheriff’s office, Gustin added.

“CoreCivic is not a law enforcement agency and OMDC does not conduct criminal investigations,” Gustin wrote.

The oversight visit comes as the Trump administration is ramping up detention capacity nationwide, as part of its mass deportation campaign. The number of immigrants locked up in detention centers has surged to more than 68,000 last month, up from about 42,000 in the last month of the Biden administration.