Orit Ben Ezr/ZumaWire
A Honduran migrant detained at a troubled detention center in California’s high desert died Wednesday night while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. Vincente Cáceres Maradiaga, 46, was receiving treatment for multiple medical conditions while waiting for the immigration court to decide whether to deport him, according to ICE. statement. He collapsed while playing soccer in the detention center and died while on his way to a local hospital.
Cáceres Maradiaga’s death is the latest in a series of deaths among detainees being held at the Adelanto Detention Center, run by GEO Group, the country’s largest private prison company. Three people detained at the facility have died in the past three months, including… Osmar Epifanio Gonzalez Jadaba32-year-old Nicaraguan, found hanging in his cell on March 22 Sergio Alonso Lopeza Mexican man who died of internal bleeding on April 13 after spending more than two months in detention.
Since its opening in 2011, Adelanto has faced accusations of inadequate medical care and poor conditions. In July 2015, 29 members of Congress sent A letter To ICE and federal inspectors requesting an investigation into health and safety concerns at the facility. They pointed to Fernando Dominguez’s death at the center in 2012, saying it was the result of “serious errors” by the center’s medical staff, who did not conduct proper medical examinations or allow him to receive off-site treatment in a timely manner. In November 2015, 400 detainees began a hunger strike, demanding better medical and dental care among other reforms.
The federal government guarantees GEO that at least 975 immigrants will be detained at the facility and pays $111 per detainee per day.
However, last year, the City of Adelanto, which acts as an intermediary between ICE and GEO, struck a deal to Extending the company contract Through 2021. The federal government guarantees GEO that at least 975 migrants will be detained at the facility and pays $111 per detainee per day, according to California State Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens), who has fought to limit immigration detention in the private sector. After that point, ICE only has to pay $50 per detainee per day, an incentive to fill more beds.
Of California’s four privately run immigration detention centers, three use local governments as intermediaries between ICE and private prison companies. On Tuesday, the California Senate voted 26-13 to ban such contracts, supporting a bill that would shutter Adelanto when its contract expires in 2021. The law of dignity, not detentionThe bill, authored by Lara, would prevent local governments from signing or extending contracts with private prison companies to detain immigrants starting in 2019. The bill would also require all in-state facilities that hold ICE detainees, including private detention centers and public prisons. , meeting national standards for detention conditions – and enabling prosecutors to hold detention center operators accountable for poor conditions within their facilities.
A similar bill passed last year but was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown. “I am disturbed by recent reports detailing unsatisfactory conditions and limited access to attorneys in private immigration detention facilities,” Brown wrote in his letter. veto message Last September. But he referred the matter to the Department of Homeland Security, which was then reviewing its use to detain immigrants for profit. In that review, the Homeland Security Advisory Board rejected the continued use of private prison companies to detain immigrants, citing the “inferiority of the private prison model.” However, since President Donald Trump took office, the federal government has moved to expand private immigration detention, signing an agreement A deal worth $110 million with GEO in April to build the first new immigration detention center of the Trump era.
Nine people died in ICE custody in fiscal year 2017, which began October 1. Private prison stocks We have approx Doubled In value since election day.