Letter to Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson in Support of SB 1289

On April 4th, 2016, Human Rights Watch sent this letter to Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in support of SB 1289, a bill that would require immigration detention facilities in California to adhere to federal detention standards and strengthen these standards by creating an independent enforcement mechanism. 

April 4, 2016

The Honorable Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson

Chair, Senate Judiciary Committee

State Capitol, Room 2187

Sacramento, CA 95814

Re: SB 1289 and the Rights of Immigration Detainees

Dear Senator Jackson,

We write on behalf of Human Rights Watch to express our strong support for SB 1289, a bill that would require immigration detention facilities in California to adhere to federal detention standards and strengthen these standards by creating an independent enforcement mechanism that would allow individuals and California city, district, and state attorneys to bring civil actions in cases where noncitizens have been denied their rights as defined under these federal standards. SB 1289 would also prohibit immigration detention facilities in California from placing individuals in solitary confinement solely on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. All of these protections are vitally necessary to address ongoing human rights abuses in immigration detention.

Human Rights Watch has documented a range of abuses in often jail-like US immigration detention facilities, including sexual abuse,^[1] and inadequate medical care.^[2] In May 2015, we documented the severe psychological impacts of detention upon asylum-seeking mothers and their children.^[3] Most recently, we have uncovered widespread abuse against transgender women in immigration detention, including precisely the kind of abusive misuse of solitary confinement SB 1289 seeks to prevent.^[4] We are also currently gathering cases for a forthcoming report on inadequate medical care for immigrant detainees, including several worrying instances of abuse in California.

Many of these abuses violate the 2011 Performance-Based National Detention Standards (PBNDS) promulgated by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2011.^[5] The PBNDS establish concrete standards on access to counsel, visitation, medical and mental health care, solitary confinement, and sexual assault prevention. Unfortunately, the measures are not legally binding and have only been implemented at select facilities that have voluntarily elected to modify their operating agreements with ICE. Without a mechanism to ensure compliance with these standards by all facilities, such as the one SB 1289 would provide, too many immigrant detainees suffer basic rights abuses.

In our recent research on abuse against transgender women in immigration detention, many of the women we interviewed had been subjected to sexual assault and ill-treatment in detention, and others had been held in abusive conditions of indefinite solitary confinement that are justified by prison authorities as a measure for transgender detainees’ protection.^[6] Many of the cases of abuse of transgender women we documented occurred in California. As part of its transgender detention policy, ICE now detains a majority of transgender women in a segregated unit at the Santa Ana City Jail, in Santa Ana, California.

All of the transgender women who had been at Santa Ana and were interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that they were consistently subjected to strip searches by male guards. Many of these women were repeatedly sexually assaulted prior to fleeing their home countries and described the experience of being required to strip nude and undergo full cavity searches by male guards as painfully reminiscent of prior sexual assaults. SB 1289 would broadly limit the use of strip searches to specific instances where there is “reasonable suspicion” that a detainee is concealing contraband, and would advise that, whenever possible, transgender detainees should be permitted to choose the gender of the guard conducting body searches.

Several of the transgender women who had been at Santa Ana and were interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they had been subjected to arbitrary “lockdowns,” raising concerns that the facility is overusing lockdowns and solitary confinement in ways that violate the rights of the individuals held there and that potentially subject vulnerable detainees to additional trauma. SB 1289 would prohibit the regular use of solitary confinement for any individuals because “he or she is a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer communities.”

Several transgender women told Human Rights Watch that they were unable to access their HIV medications for periods ranging from two to three months after entering detention, including one transgender woman who was held in the segregated unit at Santa Ana. SB 1289 would require that no “delay or disruption” to medical treatment occur.

SB 1289 is a crucial piece of legislation that would provide much needed protections to the thousands of noncitizens detained in the state each year, including important protections for LGBTQ individuals, who are uniquely vulnerable to abuse in detention. We strongly encourage you to support this important legislation.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can provide further information.

Sincerely,