The woman knew something was wrong with her heart. First, when she banged on the door to her cell at Michigan’s largest immigration detention facility, her advocates say the guards ignored her. Then the guards allegedly made fun of her.
“Attempting to communicate the severity of her condition, she pointed to her heart to indicate the palpitations. In response, staff mocked her by making heart shapes with their hands rather than providing assistance,” reads an account of the incident provided by the ACLU of Michigan and the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center as part of a virtual news conference Thursday, May 14.
“Other women in her pod banged on their doors to summon help, but they, too, were ignored. [Jane Doe’s] condition worsened — she became dizzy, experienced pain in her legs, and ultimately collapsed.”
This is one of several allegations by the ACLU and MIRC of potentially life-threatening negligence by staff at North Lake Processing Center, a Baldwin-based facility.
The advocacy organizations outlined these allegations in a letter to federal immigration officials and the U.S. senators for Michigan. The ACLU spoke with detainees directly, their families or loved ones to collect the information included in the letter. MIRC also provided legal assistance to some of the people referenced in the letter.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, other federal officials and their private contractors are required to provide timely, adequate health care to detained immigrants by law and the U.S. Constitution, said Ruby Robinson, senior managing attorney at MIRC.
“People in our communities are being arrested and detained at unprecedented rates, and fewer people are being released from detention,” Robinson said during the news conference.
“Our constitution and laws compel the government to provide medical care and confidential attorney access to individuals in custody. … Many of our clients have experienced grave failures of ICE’s duty to provide medical care and meet the health service needs of the individuals in their care.”
While Robinson said they have not ruled out a lawsuit, they hope to see changes in response to the letter.
Dr. Marc Stern, a physician who specializes in medical care at correctional facilities and reviewed some of the allegations, said he saw serious problems with practices at North Lake.
“I have grave concerns about safety. Certainly, ICE needs to investigate,” he said during the news conference.
That included nurses conducting work typically reserved for doctors or other licensed professionals, Stern said, calling it bizarre.
“Imagine that you contacted your primary care doctor’s office … you go into the primary care doctor’s office, and you see somebody who talks to you, takes a history, examines you and sends you home with a plan. And then you discover that person was a nurse,” Stern said.
“What they’re doing goes beyond what they’re trained to do and what they’re licensed to do.”
While personal stories referenced in the letter do not include the names of the detainees, the organizations said they would provide federal officials with names and other identifying information if the officials agreed to keep the information private.
The letter also includes allegations of legal problems: In one case, an immigration judge reportedly ordered a man deported when he failed to attend his court hearing, despite him being in custody at North Lake at the time.
These are among many examples of alleged misconduct included in a letter sent by the ACLU and MIRC to federal immigration officials this week, calling on them to both improve their legally required health care services and ensure everyone detained has appropriate access to a lawyer.
In a statement, an unnamed spokesman for GEO Group, the private contractor operating the site, denied allegations of misconduct.
“GEO strongly disagrees with these allegations, which are part of a long-standing, politically motivated, and radical campaign to attack ICE’s contractors, abolish ICE, and end federal immigration detention by proxy,” reads part of the statement.
“At locations where GEO provides health care services, individuals are provided with access to teams of medical professionals including physicians, nurses, dentists, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Ready access to off-site medical specialists, imaging facilities, Emergency Medical Services, and local community hospitals is also provided when needed.”
The spokesman did not immediately respond to questions about the allegation of medical staff conducting work they are not licensed to perform at the facility.
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment but denied similar allegations in the past.
The woman who guards allegedly ignored despite experiencing heart problems was eventually taken to the hospital and recovered. But it’s only a matter of time before someone dies, the organizations argued.
“ICE’s failure to respond appropriately and timely to Ms. Doe’s urgent request put her at significant risk of death,” the letter states.
Lawyers and advocates highlighted this case and others during the news conference where they called on federal officials and the private company running the detention center to fulfill their constitutional and legal obligations.
Ewurama Appiagyei-Dankah, a west Michigan legal fellow with ACLU of Michigan, spoke directly with this woman about her experience. She is no longer detained but she said the woman told her she’s still traumatized by her time at the facility.
During the news conference, a woman named Heydi spoke about conditions she said her son endured while detained at the facility. Event organizers did not provide her complete last name.
Fighting tears, she said she hasn’t been able to speak to him in months, in large part because his mental health has deteriorated to the point where he can no longer talk.
“I begged for information about his mental health. I told them he was doing very poorly, that he needed medical attention,” she said, through a Spanish language interpreter.
As of this week, he was transferred to a different facility in Louisiana, Heydi said. After the news conference, a MIRC spokeswoman said they were informed by ICE the man was moved to a dedicated medical facility to receive additional treatment.
She said officials at North Lake did not treat his deteriorating mental health. He needed appropriate attention and humanity; she said staff ignored his human rights and that he is completely destroyed emotionally.
Other allegations of medical mistreatment include:
In addition to the alleged medical failures, North Lake staff are systemically working to limit or prevent access to lawyers, the group argues. That includes reducing time on phone calls, allowing lawyers to meet with clients only in rooms where officers can hear what they’re saying and routinely not ensuring those in custody attend virtual immigration court hearings.
This is not the first time advocates and those detained argued North Lake failed to provide adequate medical care and access to legal services. Recently, MIRC and other lawyers told the Free Press potentially hundreds of people detained at the site participated in a hunger strike as a form of protest.
At the time, ICE denied there was a hunger strike. Both federal officials and GEO Group representatives defended their practices at the facility.
The advocacy groups asked for several changes, including an independent audit of medical services at North Lake and complying with a health inspection by state of Michigan officials. They also called on ICE and GEO to ensure every detained person made it to their immigration court proceedings on time, to remove any time restrictions on communications with lawyers, to provide private spaces for confidential conversations with lawyers and otherwise follow legal requirements to ensure access to counsel.
They asked for a response by May 29.
This story was updated with additional information about the status of someone previously detained at the facility.
Reach Dave Boucher at dboucher@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Medical, legal issues plague immigration detention site, advocates say
Reporting by Dave Boucher, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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