Philadelphia houses latest ICE detention center under scrutiny over abusive practices

Reports of widespread abuse at ICE detention centers have been surfacing across the board in recent days. Just last week, one by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Louisiana revealed significant physical and sexual abuse of detained migrants within detention centers in the state, including, in some instances, abuses which "meet the definitions of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment under international human rights treaties."

A couple of days later, another document, this one by the ACLU of Northern California, provided an extensive record of the inhumane conditions that immigrants face inside the state's ICE detention center. "It is abundantly clear that the government cannot guarantee that its immigration detention facilities will meet non-negotiable human rights standards," said Maricela Sanchez, investigator with the ACLU of Northern California and author of the report.

And now news have come out that Philadelphia's Moshannon Valley Processing Center, the largest immigrant detention facility in the Northeast, is plagued by what documented testimonies label as "inhumane, punitive and dangerous conditions."

The study, conducted by Temple University law students and the Philadelphia-based immigrant advocacy group Juntos, highlights three key areas of concern inside the privately operated facility: physical and psychological mistreatment of detainees, barriers to legal representation, and issues related to health and well-being.

The report, titled "In the Shadow of the Valley," was based on site visits, testimonies from current and former detainees, and public records requests. The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania (ACLU-PA) and several community-based organizations also assisted in the investigation.

One of the most revealing testimonies in the study belonged to Santiago, an Afro-Latino immigrant from Colombia, who recounted his experience of being detained at Moshannon for six months, during which he said he was "treated like an animal" and subjected to racist behavior by officers:

"Two months they put me in the hole, locked up in a cell. As if I were a criminal, as if I had murdered someone, when all I had done was argue with a fellow detainee. I felt very frustrated, I felt like I was going to go crazy in that place."

Of the 77 immigrants interviewed for the report, more than half reported medical or mental health issues, with 50% experiencing general mistreatment by facility staff. Additionally, 30% reported being subjected to racial or derogatory slurs, and 6% said they were victims of physical force.

Jennifer Lee, the supervising professor of the report, questioned the justification for the center's existence to WHYY of Philadelphia:

"This is a facility that holds people for civil purposes. They're not serving any sort of criminal sentence. It's not supposed to be punishment under the law. Yet, they're held in something that basically is a prison."

The report concludes by suggesting alternate solutions to immigrant detention that, besides providing a more humane treatment for the detainees, could also cost much less than the current system:

"We have alternative to detention programs that can work to vet, process, and support immigrants in their immigration court proceedings while they live with their families within communities in the U.S. These programs cost a fraction of the $1.8 billion that we are set to spend on immigration detention this year. Imagine what would happen if we used this funding for other critical community needs, like schools and infrastructure, that would help make life better for everyone."