In Our Border Watch, there is growing criticism against the Eloy Detention Center as some community members and local lawmakers question the conditions for individuals being held.
Access to medical care, legal services, and proper air conditioning and cooling are some of the things citizens are concerned about at the ICE facility. The Department of Homeland Security is reiterating, there is nothing to be worried about.
The Phoenix organization Trans Queer Pueblo says they are in contact with several people being held at the Eloy Detention Center.
“We help people get liberated from ICE detention centers,” Sonix Flores, Trans Queer Pueblo Media Coordinator, said. “We talk to them weekly. We send them letters of support. We visit them.”
That includes Arabella Rodriguez Marques, known to friends as Yari. As ABC15 previously reported, the group claims she is not getting proper medical care for leukemia.
“The last time that I personally saw Yari, her hands were swollen. She had visibly lost weight,” Flores said.
Flores has other concerns, too.
“The conditions in ICE and Eloy are bad,” she said. “We hear reports of inadequate food, inadequate medical attention. The overcrowding means that people are sleeping on the ground. As well as the guards are hostile towards LGBTQ people.”
Flores claims transgender detainees have reported to her that they are put in isolation.
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When U.S. Rep Yassamin Ansari (D, District 3) visited the facility in May, she claims 20 detainees reported substandard conditions, which she outlined in a letter to DHS and ICE.
Those included a decline in legal services, overcrowded cells, air conditioning manipulation, and one instance where a guard allegedly ordered detainees to walk laps in the heat until some got sick.
“I had detailed my deep concerns about the inhumane conditions of the Eloy ICE Detention Center and demanded answers and independent oversight,” Rep. Ansari said.
ABC15 brought all these allegations to DHS, who wrote to us repeatedly that they are “false.”
According to Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, Rodriguez Marquez has seen medics at least 13 times since being detained in February, who found no medical issues.
“ICE provides comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody,” Assistant Secretary McLaughlin said in a statement. “This includes medical, dental, and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility; a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arriving at an ICE facility; and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care. At no time is a detained alien ever denied emergent care by ICE.”
A DHS spokesperson adds that ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold U.S. citizens.
“All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers. Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
On Friday, U.S. Rep Greg Stanton (D, District 4) attempted an oversight visit but was denied.
“I wanted to see that with my own two eyes,” Rep. Stanton said. “That's part of my job is to ensure that detainees at a at a federal facility like that are being treated with dignity.”
He was there on behalf of the family of Kelly Yu, the owner of a sushi restaurant in Peoria, who was detained in May after living more than two decades in the country.
“Her family asked me to go to Eloy to confirm her location, check on her wellbeing, and inspect the conditions of her detention,” Rep. Stanton said.
Rep. Stanton says as officials denied the visit, they cited DHS policy that visits must be scheduled seven days in advance.
“That's in direct contravention of federal law,” Stanton said. “The law specifically says that members of Congress are not required to give advance notice. That's exactly how congressional oversight works.”
Yu’s husband, Aldo Urquiza, says as he is separated from his wife, he wants to know more about the conditions at the detention center.
“I do ask her, how is everything? How does she get treated? How the officers treat her, treat everybody else,” Aldo Urquiza said. “She always tells me to her, to her specifically, they're always nice to her because she's a nice person.”
