- Press Release
NEW REPORT: Gaps in Detention Data from Torrance Detention Facility Show Racial Disparities
WASHINGTON DC, Oct. 24, 2024 – In a snapshot that reveals inherent problems with immigration detention and the data collected by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when tracking who is impacted by detention, a new data analysis shows how in one detention center there were drastic gaps in record-keeping of race and ethnicity, and potential disparities in treatment among migrants of color. Also, the data showed troubling ICE placement patterns into and out of the facility.
These data deficiencies make it difficult to properly measure which populations are most impacted by detention, at a time when some policymakers and political leaders are calling for a massive expansion of deportation and detention.
The new report by the American Immigration Council examines data regarding people detained at the Torrance County Detention Facility in New Mexico. The approximately 2,500 people detained at Torrance over a roughly two-year period represented a total of 54 distinct nationalities spanning five different continents. However, 86 percent of them (that is, over 2,000) were labeled by ICE as racially white, including all people from Yemen, Iran, Mauritania, Turkey, Syria, Peru, and Mali.
This inevitably skewed analysis on race and detention lengths. While the report found that non-Europeans classified as “white” spent some of the longest times in detention, the unreliability of ICE’s racial classification means it is impossible to properly investigate whether certain vulnerable populations were subject to disparate treatment.
The data also showed that ICE repeatedly repopulated the Torrance Detention Facility after several warning flags that included failed oversight agency investigations, a lawsuit, and COVID-19 outbreaks.
“This data is a microcosm of a larger problem: immigration agencies do not have a standardized way of tracking race and ethnicity. That makes it hard for the public and policymakers to better understand how different racial and ethnic groups are impacted by detention,” said Laila Khan, Research Associate at the American Immigration Council. “ICE should standardize how this data is recorded, and make its records public. We all need to better understand what is the reality of detention in our country, at this moment of widespread discussion about drastically ramping up deportations and detention.”
The American Immigration Council requested the data from ICE via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed in December 2021, as part of the Council’s work to learn more about how Haitians are treated in Torrance. Over 100 Haitian nationals were detained in Torrance that year, following national outcry when border officers aggressively confronted Haitian migrants on horseback. Torrance has a well-documented record of inhumane conditions, abusive treatment, and failure to uphold due process, as found by legal groups and federal watchdogs. Findings in the Council’s new report reveal how throughout 2021 and into 2022, ICE ignored significant warning signs that Torrance is not equipped to house detained migrants, and continued to place vulnerable populations in the detention center.
“As political leaders call for mass deportation, which cannot happen without a dramatic expansion of detention, we need to look at how cruelty and mistreatment is the current norm in ICE facilities,” said Rebekah Wolf, Director of the Immigration Justice Campaign. “Torrance is emblematic of how ICE will keep a detention center open and functioning even after there is widespread evidence of inhumane conditions and abuse. ICE must shut down Torrance and we need policies that move us away from our broken system of detention.”
Other findings from the report include:
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Because individuals of certain ethnicities were marked as racially “white,” this makes it difficult for researchers to understand how different ethnicities and races may endure disparate treatment in detention. At face value, Torrance's data showed that Black vs. white individuals spent a comparable amount of average time in detention. But this is partly because certain ethnicities were classified as “white.” Yemenis, for example, had lengths of detention at Torrance 687 percent higher than the total average, but were classified as racially white.
The Council has experts available to talk further about this report’s findings and ICE detention practices in light of widespread discussion of mass deportation and detention.
Other resources:
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MEDIA CONTACTS
Elyssa Pachico, [email protected], 415-581-8835
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The American Immigration Council works to strengthen America by shaping how America thinks about and acts towards immigrants and immigration and by working toward a more fair and just immigration system that opens its doors to those in need of protection and unleashes the energy and skills that immigrants bring. The Council brings together problem solvers and employs four coordinated approaches to advance change—litigation, research, legislative and administrative advocacy, and communications. In January 2022, the Council and New American Economy merged to combine a broad suite of advocacy tools to better expand and protect immigrants' rights, more fully ensure their ability to succeed economically, and help make the communities they settle in more welcoming. Follow the latest Council news and information on ImmigrationImpact.com and X @immcouncil.