Sixteen separate humanitarian organizations in Louisiana and Mississippi have petitioned federal authorities to intervene in the manner in which nine Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)-run detention facilities in the two states allow the gouging of detainees’ families of exorbitant taxi fares in lieu of available free transportation services for detainees upon their release.
The text of the letter in its entirety is as follows:
We submit this complaint with grave concerns regarding the blatant violations of the ICE Performance-Based National Detention Standards 2011 regarding release protocols in Louisiana and Mississippi, causing serious harm to the well-being and safety of those being released.
The ICE Performance-Based National Detention Standards (PBNDS) 2011, with which all but one of the facilities in Louisiana and Mississippi are supposed to comply, clearly state the following expectations under the Admission and Release” section:
“The time, point and manner of release from a facility shall be consistent with safety considerations and shall take into account special vulnerabilities. Prior to release, the detainee shall be notified of the upcoming release and provided an opportunity to make a free phone call to facilitate release arrangements.
Facilities that are not within a reasonable walking distance of, or that are more than one mile from, public transportation shall transport detainees to local bus/train/subway stations prior to the time the last bus/train leaves such stations for the day.
If public transportation is within walking distance of the detention facility, detainees shall be provided with an information sheet that gives directions to and describes the types of transportation services available. However, facilities must provide transportation for any
detainee who is not reasonably able to walk to public transportation due to age, disability, illness, mental health or other vulnerability, or as a result of weather or other environmental conditions at the time of release that may endanger the health or safety of the detainee.
Detainees will be provided with a list of legal, medical, and social services that are available in the release community, and a list of shelter services available in the immediate area along with directions to each shelter.
Detainees will be released with one set of non-institutionalized, weather-appropriate clothing.” [emphasis added]
Not a single one of the nine ICE detention centers in Louisiana or in Mississippi are within walking distance of public transportation:
1. Jena/LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana
2. Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana
3. Jackson Parish Correctional Center in Jonesboro, Louisiana
4. South Louisiana Detention Center in Basile, Louisiana
5. Richwood Correctional Center in Richwood, Louisiana
6. Pine Prairie Correctional Center in Pine Prairie, Louisiana
7. River Correctional Center in Ferriday, Louisiana
8. Allen Parish Public Safety Complex in Oberlin, Louisiana.
9. Adams County Detention Center in Natchez, Mississippi.
To be in compliance with the ICE PBNDS 2011, all of these detention centers should be providing free and safe transportation to the nearest public transportation center for every individual released from detention, before the last transport from that transportation hub is scheduled for the day.
Furthermore, on March 27, 2020, in response to growing concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, Executive Associate Director Enrique Lucero issued a memorandum on a COVID-19 “Action Plan” to all ICE detention wardens and superintendents. According to the memo, facilities are further instructed to:
●“facilitate safe transport, continued shelter, and medical care, as part of release planning,”
●“provide information regarding any potential community resources to promote continuity of care,” and
●“facilitate transportation coordination through a family or friend.”
Despite the clear guidance laid out by the PBNDS 2011 and the 2020 COVID-19 Action Plan, the ICE detention centers in Louisiana and Mississippi have demonstrated a total disregard for standards compliance and basic public health. We have documented undue hardship, anxiety, and
danger for immigrants and their families due to this negligence.
Since March 2021, Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention have documented a substantial increase in the following types of dangerous releases being reported to us:
●Dozens of individuals have reported to us that they have been released from ICE detention without first having an opportunity to contact their families to inform them of their current location, impending release, and to communicate with them about arrangements made for their travel.
●In several instances, individuals have been left waiting for hours or overnight in a detention center lobby or outside the detention center without being able to contact anyone, and were unable to communicate with the detention center staff due to unavailability or language barriers.
For example, ICE release papers (available only in English) at Jackson Parish Correctional Center (as pictured above) blatantly lie to detained individuals and state that the detention center will provide transportation for released individuals to Monroe, when in reality this has not been documented once in the past year. This document also asks obligors to purchase bus tickets from Ruston Greyhound station, which is in fact permanently closed. Individuals being released
from Jackson Parish are in fact told by staff that they must pay for a taxi or have someone drive to pick them up.
●ICE and its contractors have been providing incorrect or misleading information regarding private paid transportation upon release.
○Individuals and their families have been told by the officials arranging their release that they would not be released unless they paid for a taxi, even if detention facility documents state otherwise (see photograph). Eight of the nine ICE detention centers that we monitor in Louisiana and Mississippi currently “require” that detained individuals, their families, or sponsors pay an average of $200-$300 for a taxi to the nearest city with an airport or bus station if they do not have someone who can drive directly to the detention center to pick them up.
There is at least one documented instance in which an individual was forced to pay $600 due to “wait time” caused by the delay in their release.
Individuals being released from the ninth detention center, Richwood Correctional Center, are also forced to pay for taxis.
○Some individuals have been asked by ICE officials arranging their release if they want to take a taxi without being provided information about the cost of a taxi or where it would take them.
○Taxis have been called for individuals who do not have the money to pay for them, without their families first being contacted.
●There are numerous safety and financial concerns relying upon private paid
transportation upon release.
○Taxi drivers have left Individuals stranded at airports that close overnight.
○Sponsors have been required to demonstrate to ICE that they had purchased a plane ticket in order for the individual to be released, but then the individual misses the flight because they are not released on the day that the flight was purchased for.
●Individuals have been released without critical documentation and/or medications, again in blatant violation of the PBNDS 2011:
○Individuals have not been given the necessary paperwork by ICE to be able to pass through Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to take a flight home, or the quality of the photographs in their paperwork are considered by TSA to be too low quality for acceptance.
○Individuals have been released without the results of their most recent COVID-19 tests.
○Individuals, including ones with mental health or psychiatric disabilities, have been released without their prescribed daily medication.
○At least four individuals who have either an intellectual disability or a serious mental health condition have been released without the required post release plan for continuity of care. One of those four individuals was dropped off at a bus station without money or a phone, without his friends, family, or our volunteer group being notified.
●In response to these contraventions of ICE detention standards, local community volunteers are driving hours every day, sometimes up to 18 hours a day, to pick up individuals being released from detention. However, despite our greatest efforts, local community volunteers are woefully unable to facilitate safe transportation for every individual who is being released, and in any case, it is ICE’s clear-cut responsibility to do so per the PBNDS 2011.
○There have been several instances when volunteers have arrived at a detention center to learn that individuals who were told they would be released that day are not in fact being released that day.
As a contrast, in several other states, other ICE field offices are closer to compliance with the PBNDS 2011 regarding release protocols, with the result that released individuals are transported either to a public transportation station or to a shelter run by a local nonprofit that provides services:
– In Arizona, individuals released from Eloy Detention Center and La Palma Correctional Center in Eloy and the Florence Service Processing Center and Florence Correctional Center in Florence are transported to the Phoenix bus station or to the International Rescue Committee shelter in Phoenix.
– In Georgia, individuals released from Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin are transported to either Columbus, which has a bus station, or Atlanta, which has a bus station and an airport.
– In Texas, individuals released from South Texas Residential Center in Dilley, Karnes City Residential Center in Karnes City, and South Texas Detention Center in Pearsall are transported to the San Antonio bus station or airport.
– In California, individuals released from Otay Mesa Detention Facility in San Diego are transported to the San Ysidro transit station.
– In Nevada, individuals released from the Nevada Southern Detention Center and the Nye County Jail in Pahrump are transported to Las Vegas.
We demand that the ICE New Orleans Field Office take immediate steps to ensure compliance by all ICE detention centers under its jurisdiction with the post-release transportation responsibilities outlined in the ICE PBNDS 2011 and the 2020 COVID-19 Action Plan. This would entail:
●requiring facility staff to provide humane, ethical and safe transportation to individuals being released, to either a full-service bus station or an airport;
●providing access to interpreters and translated materials to inform them of their post-release transportation options and during the entire release process
●facilitating free communication with families or sponsors about releases prior to their happening.
●There should also be public, accessible materials outlining the post-release transportation options for each of the nine detention facilities in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention volunteers are willing to coordinate with ICE to meet released immigrants at the airports and full-service bus stations to provide post release services and assist individuals in making their travel arrangements, particularly those without funds or those who have special vulnerabilities.
●For the well-being and security of individuals being released, we urge ICE to engage in regular and transparent communications with Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention and other local immigrant rights groups about the timing and volume of releases so that these groups can provide post release support, coordinate with out-of-state families and sponsors, and help facilitate safe transportation.
For example, at the Alexandria “bus station”, which is located in a laundromat, immigrants are not able to get the tickets that their families purchased for them printed out. Many of the “bus stations” have very limited hours or do not have onsite staff. In contrast, the Shreveport, Baton Rouge and New Orleans bus stations are considered “full-service.”
We request a response to these demands by July 30, 2021, and expect the ICE New Orleans Field Office to ensure that free, safe and secure transportation is readily available to all individuals being released from detention in Louisiana and Mississippi by August 13, 2021.
Sincerely,
Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention (LA-AID)
A Community Voice – Louisiana Asylum Seekers Sponsorship Project
Casa de Paz
Casa Marianella
Church for the Highlands (Shreveport, Louisiana)
Contigo – Mountain Vista Unitarian Universalist Congregation
Freedom for Immigrants
Haitian Bridge Alliance
Home is Here NOLA
ISLA (Immigration Services & Legacy Advocacy)
Justice and Beyond Coalition
Natchez Network
Northminster Church LA-AID (Monroe, Louisiana)
Southern Poverty Law Center
Transition to Freedom Ministry (Eunice, Louisiana)
Voces Unidas: Louisiana Immigrants’ Rights Coalition
Louisiana Voice 
Good work, Tom!