If you work at a correctional facility in one of our 50 states, the District of Columbia, or at the federal level, and you sexually abuse someone in your custody, you will be criminally prosecuted, thanks to the Prison Rape Elimination Act (passed by Congress in 2003). “These laws recognize that any sexual activity between detainees and detention facility staff, with or without the use of force, is unlawful because of the inherent power imbalance when people are in custody.”1 However, the Berks Family Residential Center in Pennsylvania is trying to avoid responsibility for the sexual violence that took place in its facility by arguing that the detainee “consented” to sexual abuse.
Yep, you read that correctly.
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A woman called E.D., who was an asylum-seeker and domestic violence survivor from Honduras, was sexually assaulted by an employee while she was detained with her 3-year-old child. She was 19 years old at the time. She filed suit against the detention center and its staff for their failure to protect her and her suit shows that while the defendants stood by and joked, she was coerced and threatened, including with possible deportation.
“Although the employee pled guilty to criminal institutional sexual assault under Pennsylvania law, the defendants contend that they should not be liable for any constitutional violations. Their argument rests in part on their assessment that the sexual abuse was “consensual” and that they should be held to a different standard because the Berks Family Residential Center is an immigration detention facility rather than a jail or prison.”2
This week, the ACLU of Pennsylvania and partner organizations filed an amicus brief supporting E.D.. In it, they explained that officials wield “such tremendous control over the lives of those in their custody, including through coercion and exploitation, that consent to sexual contact cannot be freely given in these circumstances.” 3
But if you are tempted to see this as an isolated incident, think again:
- A recent investigation into sexual abuse in immigration detention found that there were 1,448 allegations of sexual abuse filed with ICE between 2012 and March 2018 4
- The Government Accountability Office reported in 2013 that officials at immigration prisons and jails failed to report 40 percent of sexual abuse allegations to the ICE headquarters. 5
- After looking at 10 different detention centers and analyzing over 70 cases of sexual abuse, researchers found that only 7 percent of 215 allegations of sexual assault in immigration detention facilities from 2009 to 2013 were substantiated, calling into question the thoroughness of investigations as well as reporting and oversight mechanisms. 6
- At Southwest Key, a nonprofit contractor that rakes in about a half a billion dollars to detain migrant children in facilities across the country, the state of Arizona moved to revoke the group’s license because they failed to comply with required employee background checks. At least three former employees have been arrested for sexually abusing migrant children. One was convicted, and one of the facilities was closed down following allegations of staff abusing children.
These cases show that officials are not doing enough to prevent, detect, and respond to incidents of sexual abuse in immigration detention. Regardless of how you feel about the current state of politics in this country, people should be protected from sexual abuse. Always.
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