Georgia Congressional Delegation Launch an Investigation Into the Conditions at Stewart and Irwin Detention Center

PROJECT SOUTH 9 GAMMON AVE SE ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30315 ProjectSouth.org ________________________________________ November 21, 2017 Senator Johnny Isakson Representative Karen Handel 131 Russell Senate Office Building 1211 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Washington DC 20515 Senator David Perdue Representative Jody Hice 455 Russell Senate Office Building 1516 Longworth House Office Bldg. Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20515 Representative Rick W. Allen Representative Henry Johnson Jr. 426 Cannon House Office Building Representative Jack Kingston Washington, DC 20515 2372 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Representative Sanford Bishop Jr. 2429 Rayburn House Office Building Representative John Lewis Washington, DC 20515 343 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Representative Buddy Carter 432 Cannon House Office Building, Representative Barry Loudermilk Washington, DC 20515 329 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Representative Doug Collins 513 Cannon House Office Building Representative Austin Scott Washington, DC 20515 516 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Representative Drew Ferguson 1032 Longworth House Office Building Representative David Scott Washington, DC 20515 225 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Representative Tom Graves Rayburn House Office Building, Representative Rob Woodall 2442, Washington, DC 20515 1725 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Re: Requesting an Investigation of Stewart and Irwin County Immigration Detention Centers Dear Members of the Georgia Delegation to the 115th United States Congress, We are writing to request that you initiate an investigation into the Stewart and Irwin County immigration detention centers in Georgia. Project South, an Atlanta-based social justice organization, has prepared, in conjunction with Pennsylvania State University Law School’s Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, a report on these two facilities, Imprisoned Justice: Inside Two Georgia Immigrant Detention Centers, a copy of which is enclosed. Time and time again, we heard from members of our communities that they, their friends, families, and loved ones suffered injustices at Stewart or Irwin in a manner that violated the laws and Constitution of the United States: many were detained for years without any opportunity to plead their case before a judge, denied access 1 to lawyers, discriminated against on the basis of their gender, religion, or national origin, treated inhumanely, and forced to labor without just compensation. We are not the first to document these issues or attempt to bring them to public attention. In May 2012, the ACLU of Georgia published a report, Prisoners of Profit: Immigrants and Detention in Georgia, detailing the conditions of Stewart and Irwin County Immigration Detention Centers, and documenting the violation of detained immigrants’ rights therein.1 In this report, the ACLU of Georgia found that many detained immigrants were held indefinitely at Stewart and Irwin without justification.2 The detained immigrants were generally unable to access legal representation,3 and faced retaliation from the guards when they sought to file grievances or petitions.4 The report also discovered that the facilities lacked basic hygiene,5 adequate medical and mental health care,6 and opportunities to see family members or friends.7 Finally, the report also detailed the ways in which the detained immigrants were unable to engage in important elements of their religious practices,8 as well as being coerced into laboring for subminimum wages for the maintenance of the facilities.9 On March 21st, 2014, the ACLU, joined by 23 other nonprofits, community groups, and religious congregations, requested that the Georgia Congressional delegation launch an investigation into the conditions at Stewart and Irwin Detention Center. Three years later, the situation remains largely unabated. Both Stewart and Irwin Detention Centers fester with rampant violations of detained immigrants’ constitutional and human rights: inaccessibility of due process for the detained immigrants, inhumane treatment and living conditions, and involuntary labor. I. Due Process Issues Mohammed Ahmed Duale is a twenty-five years old man from Somalia who fled his home when he was seventeen because of horrific violence and bloodshed. In this process, he was separated from most of his family, and his father died shortly afterwards. “Now I am all alone,” He said. “I traveled to America for asylum, but I had no idea I would be detained. I didn’t think they would detain asylum-seekers. I just asked to apply for asylum and I didn’t know I would be imprisoned. I was hospitalized in South Africa because I was tortured. I take medication now for the trauma. But, I have no hope of asylum now that I was transferred to Stewart. Stewart is just a deportation center. This is not a place where you can win asylum.” We believe that Mr. Duale’s indefinite detention, as well as his lack of access to the legal process, constitutes a clear violation of the Constitution of the United States. In 2001, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that noncitizens residing in the United States, regardless of their immigration status, are entitled to due process before the law.10 In Zadvydas v Davis, the Court acknowledged that “indefinite detention” poses a “serious 1 See Alexandra Cole, Prisoners of Profit: Immigrants and Detention in Georgia, 28 (Azadeh Shahshahani ed., American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Georgia, 2012) available at http://www.acluga.org/files/2713/3788/2900/Prisoners_of_Profit.pdf. 2 Id. at 45. 3 Id. at 49. 4 Id. at 64 5 Id. at 53 6 Id. at 18. 7 Id. at 84. 8 Id. at 58 9 Id. at 57. 10 Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U.S. 678, 121 S. Ct. 2491 (2001) 2 constitutional problem” given a noncitizen’s Due Process rights.11 “Government detention violates the [Due Process] Clause,” the Court explained, “unless it is imposed as punishment in a criminal proceeding conforming to the rigorous procedures constitutionally required for such proceedings, or ‘in certain special and narrow non-punitive circumstances.’ ”12 Excepting such narrow circumstances, the Court reasoned, it was unreasonable to hold an undocumented immigrant for over six months.13 Nor is Mr. Dulae’s story an anomaly at Stewart and Irwin. Our inquiries have revealed that both Stewart and Irwin remain fraught with due process violations that effectively relegate immigrants to unconstitutional and indefinite detention, impose prohibitively high bonds, and deny access to lawyers and to the justice system. A. Indefinite Detention Many immigrants at Stewart and Irwin have been detained without a reasonable prospect of securing release or even deportation for years on end.14 The immigration courts at Stewart and Irwin are also notorious for setting prohibitively high bonds for detained immigrants, effectively precluding any possibility for release and curtailing their Eighth Amendment right to a reasonable bond.15 At least one detained immigrant we interviewed reported that his bond was set at $10,000, an unaffordable rate for the detained immigrant, as well as for most persons who are likely to be held at Stewart and Irwin.16 ICE deportation officers, who are supposed to facilitate the detained immigrants’ movement through the immigration justice system, are virtually inaccessible to many detained immigrants in these facilities. Their limited language proficiency means that detained immigrants who do not speak English are unable to communicate with their deportation officers,17 while some detained immigrants were explicitly denied the opportunity to speak with their officers for months on end.18 B. Inadequate Access to Legal Resources While both Stewart and Irwin Detention Centers allow detained immigrants to meet with attorneys, in many ways the facilities physically bar the detained immigrant’s right to substantive consultation and representation. Detained immigrants and attorneys have reported that they had to meet through Plexiglas with malfunctioning phones or video-conferencing equipment.19 The conversations are not private, as the rooms are not sound- insulated, and the attorneys and the clients often need to shout at each other over television or other white noise in order to understand each other. Attorneys have reported that their faxes and paperwork have gone “missing” at the detention center, and that they are treated with animus, and frequently denied access to important services like translation and timely meetings with their clients.20 11 Id. at 690. 12 Id. 13 Id. at 697. 14 Imprisoned Justice, p. 39. 15 Id. at 40. 16 Id. at 28. 17 Id. at 37. 18 Id at 39-40. 19 Id. at 28, 41. 20 Id. at. 30, 41. 3 Detained immigrants at both facilities also encounter constant problems accessing the law libraries for legal information. Many detained immigrants at Stewart reported that they were unable to access any legal resources in their native languages, effectively precluding their ability to fill out complex legal documents like asylum applications.21 At Irwin, detained immigrants are required to submit a written form, only available in English and Spanish, to request library use. Many detained immigrants reported that they were literally and physically denied access to the law library even after submitting a request, both in their effort to request specific books and resources, and in their attempts to physically enter the library space.22 In light of this evidence, we conclude that

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