WTE: Respect for ICE detainees starts by respecting one another

CoreCivic's Otay Mesa Detention Center, San Diego, CA

The Uinta County Commissioners recently hosted an informational meeting for the public concerning an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility proposed to be built near Evanston. After nearly two years of speculation, the first official document was filed by CoreCivic in late November. Given two years of negative press, I went to learn the facts.

The first thing that struck me was how we, the people, have asked ICE to enforce our laws but have never given them any facilities of their own. For decades ICE has had no choice but to lock up foreign nationals in county jails and state-run facilities—often alongside hardened criminals.

Ten years ago, ICE announced an overhaul of its Performance-Based National Detention Standards (PBNDS 2008). According to the ICE website, “They were drafted with the input of many ICE personnel across the nation, as well as the perspectives of nongovernmental organizations. PBNDS 2011 is crafted to improve medical and mental health services, increase access to legal services and religious opportunities, improve communication with detainees with limited English proficiency, improve the process for reporting and responding to complaints, reinforce protections against sexual abuse and assault, and increase recreation and visitation.”

These 2011 standards authorize ICE to contract with private companies to build and operate facilities that meet the 2011 PBNDS standards. Out of 24 ICE regions across the U.S.A, 11 of them now have such contracted facilities. ICE’s Salt Lake region is looking to become the 12th.

Currently, more than 500 detainees are scattered in county jails and state-run detention centers from Nevada to Montana. ICE hopes to correct this with a new 1,000-bed facility somewhere in northern Utah or southwest Wyoming.

Current holder of ICE detainees in the SLC region

Let that sink in. Humanitarian upgrades approved by the Obama administration and enjoyed by nearly half of ICE’s jurisdiction are suddenly reported as sinister actions against the very people they were designed to help. Have the 2011 improvements of humanitarian standards suddenly become evil? Or has Wyoming’s press corps failed to report the facts?

Facts require context. In a vacuum, it is easy to criticize anything or anybody. But we don’t live in a vacuum. Currently, there are real people stuck in county jails. They should be consulted about whether moving from a county jail to a detention center improves their quality of life.

The same goes for our treatment of potential contractors. No doubt, terrible wrongs have taken place in—state-run, county-run, and private detention centers. The salient question is: which arrangement has the better track record? Decisions made without an actual comparison of facts may, in reality, make matters worse for detainees.

Ten years ago, multiple government agencies and NGOs did, in fact, examine these questions. The Obama administration concluded that companies like CoreCivic and MTC actually served the detainees better than the current archipelago of county jails. Until a similarly rigorous study overturns that conclusion, it is manifestly unfair to accuse those who act on the 2011 PBNDS of being uncaring, immoral people motivated by greed or animus.

To be clear, it is not my intention to advocate either for, or against the Evanston facility. Others are better equipped for that job. There may be good reasons that the people of Uinta County support it or oppose it. There may also be sound reasons why the 2011 PBNDS should be reconsidered. If so, let us hear them and help ICE do its job in the most humane way possible.

Only, let the discussion be fair and civil. Denouncing one’s policy opponents in categorical, moral terms is always polarizing. Doing so without a careful consideration of history and context is irresponsible. I have very good friends on both sides of the issue. Each one deserves respect and a careful hearing.

I don’t believe that those who express concern for the people detained by ICE are uncaring about the welfare of Evanston and her citizens. Nor do I believe that the people concerned about Evanston’s future are uncaring about the people who could be housed in the proposed facility. These concerns are not mutually exclusive. Ad hominem attacks to the contrary are beneath the dignity of Wyoming.

We all agree that the first goal is to find the best way to respect and care for the ICE detainees in the Salt Lake region. That starts with respecting and caring for one another.


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