ICE sued over over illegal deletion of surveillance footage at Florida detention facility

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The Biden administration announced last month that it would be pausing immigration detention at Glades County Detention Center (GCDC) in Florida. This is undoubtedly a major step forward for immigrant rights. In just one example, the jail has been accused of violating the law by regularly erasing surveillance footage.

But while civil rights and watchdog groups filed a complaint against that earlier this year, they say Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has “failed to take any action to correct these abuses, recover video footage, or ensure that Glades County is in compliance with federal law.” The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) are now suing ICE, along with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

 “The public needs a full accounting of any violations that occurred at the Glades County Detention Center, and that starts with ICE and NARA enforcing recordkeeping laws against the facility,” said CREW Senior Counsel Nikhel Sus. “It’s time to hold ICE accountable for contractors who violate federal law and fail to meet the standards of immigration detention.”

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Glades, which has contracted with the federal government to detain immigrants, is legally required to preserve footage for three years. The ACLU of Florida and CREW filed a complaint this past January after discovering the jail was violating the law by erasing footage. They said ICE had also known about the deletions but failed to report them, as is also required by law. The organizations then sued after ICE failed to take any corrective action.

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“ICE has been aware of Glades County’s unlawful practice of deleting footage for over a year and has yet to take any action against Glades to repair the issue, especially during such a pivotal moment when allegations of abuse can be confirmed with that video,” said ACLU of Florida Deputy Legal Director Katie Blankenship.

Just this past year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was urged to probe the illegal misuse of a toxic chemical at GCDC. More than two dozen groups in a complaint expressed worry the facility was miusing chemicals at up to 50 times the permitted concentration, leaving detained people in danger of “shortness of breath, coughing, bloody noses, headaches, severe nausea, and an increased risk of reproductive health damage, among other chronic illnesses.”

Federal lawmakers representing the state had in February urged the Biden administration to terminate its contract with the facility. The next month, officials said they would pause immigration detention at the site. But The Washington Post reported that “officials said they are open to using the jail again someday if the county addresses the issues they raised.” But immigration detention is inhumane by design. It should stay paused indefinitely. Better yet, don’t renew the contract.

“The new lawsuit seeks to keep ICE accountable amidst an ambiguous moment at Glades as the current contract between ICE and Glades County ends on April 30, 2022,” the organization continued. But as of May 1, it’s unclear what the current status of the contract is. “The agency will decide between terminating its contract with Glades County, which would likely cause the center to close, or renewing a contract to keep the detention center open.”

Bel’Or Mbema Mapudi Ngoma, who was at one time detained at Glades, in March called it “one of the worst experiences” in detention. “I experienced constant abuses at Glades, in addition to unprofessional and racist treatment. The xenophobia I experienced at Glades reflects the limited vision of the world at places like Glades. Thus, Glades must close rather than continue to subject people to inhumane conditions, which would be a step in the direction of a vision of a world where all people are treated with humanity.” 

Nor should detained immigrants be shuffled from one abusive site to another, as ICE has typically done when a facility has been shut down. ICE has every ability to release people in its custody. Let them fight their cases from their own homes and communities, and out of harmful immigration detention.

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