We spoke to 20 detainees from Africa and Latin America in ICE centers around the country detained for more than six months. Some were asylum seekers held for long periods as they fight their cases. Around 2,600 people in detention have passed a first asylum screening. 2/9
Some were DACA recipients who got in trouble and have been detained for long periods after finishing their jail sentences, fighting to stay in the United States. 3/9
Detainees are being held for much longer, even as the overall detention population dropped dramatically this year. Part of the reason for that decline: around 150,000 expulsions at the US-Mexico border under new health rules put in place by the Trump administration in March. 4/9
ICE said it is doing everything to protect the health and safety of detainees. Many of the detainees we spoke to had been transferred between centers and said social distancing was difficult. Some had been infected with COVID. There have been more than 6,400 positive cases. 5/9
Also, here is an interactive graphic showing how the average length of stay in ICE detention has risen sharply, especially for those who only have civil immigration violations, not criminal convictions. https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-IMMIGRATION/DETENTION/yzdvxqbzzpx/
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