“Written policies that the agency has on responding to allegations of sexual abuse and assault are very comprehensive. ICE says the personnel from that office were incorporated under another division. That office was closed on the second day of the Trump Administration. “Well, it’s certainly not in their self-interest to have cases of sexual abuse and assault confirmed.” Kevin Landy ran the office responsible for reforming ICE’s policies on sexual abuse under President Obama. Of these cases, ICE deemed more than half of them inconclusive. For the past six years, it’s been less than 1 percent of our population has reported an incident.” ICE recorded over 1,300 allegations of sexual abuse and sexual assault against detainees from fiscal years 2013 through 2017. “I do not believe there’s a culture of abuse. He later pleaded guilty to institutional sexual assault. This is all new, to be in a facility where they’re actually treated as a prisoner.” “In the case of women, the majority of those in immigration detention are seeking asylum, and, in fact, are usually fleeing violence.” Ultimately, it was an 8-year-old girl’s eyewitness account that led to an investigation. “Any time you have a particularly vulnerable population being detained in a confined space, that creates a potential for abuse.” “Many of these women have never been in a detention facility.
His new executive order ends family separation, but expands family detention, leading to an even larger population of immigrants held in federal custody. President Trump has already proposed expanding detention capacity for 2019, a plan that could lead to a 50 percent increase of the daily population since he took office. Currently, there are nearly 42,000 immigrants in detention on any given day. Like E.D., several thousand immigrants have claimed sexual abuse in detention over the last decade. According to her deposition, Sharkey asked her to keep watch and propositioned her for sex. What we found out through the words of Daniel Sharkey is they all knew.” Another detainee also knew. I never said any of those words to her to make her, make her think that.” “This is a hallway that everyone walks by. And then it just kind of snowballed from there.” “Me being in a power position, and her being kind of like, you know, being a resident there, she was never - I mean - I never threatened her or anything like that. “It was a friendly relationship at that time. According to case records, instead of transferring Sharkey, the supervisor told him to keep his distance and immediately report if anything else transpired. I wasn’t having - my home life wasn’t as great, so it was nice to have somebody, you know, that would give me attention.” Early on, Sharkey told his supervisors that E.D. And he had told her that, you know, he could help her out and that he was friends with the deportation officer.” “I did have feelings for her. But she was also in this Berks County facility that is purported to provide a safe space for these families while they go through the immigration process.” “He had been giving them favors, given her little boy toys and candy. “Her life experience is one in Honduras of being brutally beaten and raped by her partner. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, known as ICE. and her son awaited asylum at Berks, a family detention facility contracted by the U.S. She’s a 19-year-old asylum seeker with a 3-year-old.” In 2014, E.D. “He was 42 years old, married, white guard. Two women told us their stories of being sexually abused by guards while under the custody of ICE. Transcript ‘I Just Simply Did What He Wanted’: Sexual Abuse Inside Immigrant Detention Facilities Immigrant detention is expanding under the Trump administration, increasing the risk of sexual assault in a system where abuse is not uncommon.