ICE Detention Centers Get Heat from Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch, a worldwide human rights organization, is examining the living conditions for mothers and children in ICE Detention Centers after 25 mothers of detained immigrant families shared their family trauma, depression and suicidal thoughts to the organization.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the government ran organization that is responsible for the immigration detention centers that are under investigation. Several accounts of human rights violations have been reported in the past few years as immigration has been a hot topic.

U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in California has released a 22-page ruling accusing the Obama Administrations current family migrant outlines a violation of how migrant children are supposed to be detained. The tentative ruling states that it is inappropriate to hold a child and an accompanying parent, unless there is a flight and/or safety risk.

Several mothers have made statements to Human Rights Watch describing their children with ‘signs of depression attributed to being detained’ and even made suicidal threats because of their unhappiness. Most fear deportation back to their country, where they have fled violence and drugs.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been evaluation asylum-seeking families for release and have been setting bonds appropriately. However, most detained immigrants cannot afford to pay an immigration bail bond, which often start at $7500. Immigration lawyers say that $15,000 immigration bonds are not uncommon.