{"id":46446,"date":"2021-02-19T20:33:47","date_gmt":"2021-02-19T20:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/?p=345732"},"modified":"2021-02-19T20:33:47","modified_gmt":"2021-02-19T20:33:47","slug":"dying-of-cold-ice-detainees-freezing-in-southern-prisons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/02\/19\/dying-of-cold-ice-detainees-freezing-in-southern-prisons\/","title":{"rendered":"“Dying of Cold”: ICE Detainees Freezing in Southern Prisons"},"content":{"rendered":"
In Louisiana and<\/u> Texas, immigrants seeking asylum are facing dire conditions in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers hit by this week\u2019s extreme cold. At the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, advocates say parents and children have been living with overflowing\u00a0toilets, thirst, poor hygiene, and heat that fades in and out. Twenty miles away, at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, advocates say detainees who complained about the cold faced retaliation. At the Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center in Louisiana, a detainee interviewed by The Intercept reports that the segregation unit, akin to solitary confinement, has no heat.<\/p>\n
Lucia Allain, communications manager for the Refugee and Immigrant Center\u00a0for Education and Legal Services, known as RAICES, has been in contact with Ubaldo Ochoa Lopez, a father detained at the Pearsall facility, located outside San Antonio. Although the ICE processing center, which is run by the private prison firm GEO Group, did not lose power, detainees were still left without sufficient heat. \u201cHe said, \u2018We\u2019re all really, really cold,\u2019\u201d Allain told The Intercept, of her conversation on Thursday with Ochoa Lopez.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they\u2019re hearing complaints like, \u2018Oh it\u2019s cold in here,\u2019 they\u2019ll be like, \u2018It could be worse,\u2019 and turn on fans.\u201d<\/blockquote>\nDetainees\u2019 complaints to ICE agents about the temperature have been met with retaliation, Ochoa Lopez told Allain. \u201cThe officers are turning on fans to make it colder,\u201d Allain said. \u201cIf they\u2019re hearing complaints like, \u2018Oh it\u2019s cold in here,\u2019 they\u2019ll be like, \u2018It could be worse,\u2019 and turn on fans.\u201d Ochoa Lopez told her that agents have thrown blankets into the garbage after detainees complained.<\/p>\n
The situation heightened fears that the cold will leave people vulnerable to Covid-19 in a unit that houses around 90 people. ICE detention centers have been wracked with coronavirus infections<\/a>, in part thanks to the nature of the close quarters. Detainees, advocates, and whistleblowers have also reported mismanagement<\/a> and medical neglect<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Ochoa Lopez told Allain that the tension has at times spilled over into detainees fighting over the insufficient blankets.<\/p>\n
ICE officials deny there is a problem with heat at the Pearsall facility. “Temperature checks at Pearsall yesterday showed that all areas of the facility were on average 70 degrees and within the acceptable range of 69 to 76 degrees,” a spokesperson told The Intercept over email.<\/p>\n
Immigration advocates are accustomed to ICE denying problems exist. \u201cFirst we had the mistreatment and separation of families, then we came into Covid with people getting sick in these facilities, now we have this whole other situation happening,\u201d said Allain. She noted that many of the detainees in these centers could be paroled into the U.S. as they awaited asylum and other immigration rulings. So far the Biden administration has failed to take action: \u201cIn Texas, there is no move from this administration to release these families.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nICE Cold Detention<\/h3>\n
At ICE\u2019s Pine Prairie, Louisiana, detention center, the system of punishment for detainees became much more severe with the cold. Angel Argueta Anariba, who is detained there, told The Intercept that, although other parts of the facility have heat, the segregation unit does not.<\/p>\n
Argueta Anariba was placed in an individual segregation cell a few days before the cold set in \u2014 a situation he describes as retaliatory. Argueta Anariba has a health condition that calls for a special diet. For months he has pressured the various ICE facilities to which he\u2019s been transferred to fulfill his dietary requirements, to no avail. He said the Pine Prairie administration\u2019s explanation for placing him in segregation \u2014 that he destroyed government property \u2014 is false. Rather, he believes it was retaliation for the continued pressure he has put on the institution to give him the correct meals.<\/p>\n
Pine Prairie was recently accused of other retaliatory efforts. The Intercept reported this month that a guard at the private prison had threatened detainees<\/a> with being put into the coronavirus ward if they did not submit to deportation orders.<\/p>\n