Immigrant Detainees at Risk of Sexual Abuse

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a report today on immigrant detainees and sexual abuse.

The 24 page report entitled Detained and at Risk: Sexual Abuse and Harassment can be read HERE.

The report provides:

1. Documented incidents of Sexual Abuse

2. Recorded allegations of abuse.

3. Recent proposals by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to address the issue.

4. Recommendations from the Human Rights Watch which emphasize that the agency should make improvements swiftly to improve oversight of the entire detention system and ensure accountability.

Meghan Rhode, women's rights researcher at the HRW, released the following statement with the report:

"ICE has finally recognized the need for stronger protection of people in detention against sexual abuse, but it needs to play catch up quickly. ICE needs to get new rules in place and make sure the rules have the teeth to ensure compliance from the hundreds of facilities across the detention system."

According to the release the report was commissioned after:

It was reported in May that a guard employed by a contractor, Corrections Corporation of America, at the T. Don Hutto immigration facility in Texas had sexually assaulted several detainees.

The guard, who was arrested on August 19, 2010, on suspicion of official oppression and unlawful restraint, allegedly groped women while transporting them to an airport and a bus station where they were being released.

The Congressionally Mandated National Prison Rape Elimination Commission issued a report in 2009 that said:

...immigrants in detention face particular challenges in reporting abuse, including a lack of information about rules governing staff conduct and fear of speaking out against the same authority that is seeking their deportation.