Prisons as a business: why conditions in migrant detention centers in the United States are intolerable

Complaints about conditions at the center were included in the American Civil Liberties Union's appeal to the Donald Trump administration in May 2025. According to testimonies from immigrants held there, some prisoners were kept in their cells for more than three days due to staff shortages. Access to medical care was difficult. Unsanitary conditions were reported.

Human rights activists separately noted that those arrested had limited contact with lawyers and even relatives - in some cases they had no access to correspondence or telephone at all.

The current fiscal year (in the US it runs from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026) has already become the deadliest in ICE history, breaking the record set in 2004, when 28 detainees died. The rise in deaths comes amid the Trump administration's aggressive anti-immigrant campaign and a sharp increase in arrests.

In 2025, the number of people in US immigration detention grew by more than 74% compared to the first year of previous President Joe Biden's administration. At the direction of the White House, ICE officers are massively detaining both immigration law violators and people without a criminal record and holders of temporary protection.