The Deplorable State of Immigration Detention in the UK and USA

The Harmondsworth and Colnbook immigration removal centers are located just outside of Heathrow Airport in London, next to a Sheraton hotel. The sterile and unassuming building complex appears to be a series of office buildings; the only indication to the contrary is a small sign placed by the road. Yet combined, the centers have the capacity to hold over 1,000 people and are part of one of the largest immigration detention systems in Europe.

Asylum seekers and other migrants are placed in immigration detention centers for administrative purposes, which include establishing the detainee’s identity, effecting his removal from the United Kingdom, or facilitating his immigration claims. The conditions in immigration detentions centers in the United Kingdom have come under intense scrutiny from civil society organizations and government-commissioned inquiries. Common problems include inadequate medical and mental health care, high rates of self-harm amongst detainees, sexual and other forms abuse, and suicides. Moreover, the United Kingdom is the only country within the European Union that does not place a time limit on the duration of immigration detention.

Until very recently, the government routinely detained asylum seekers as part of the Detained Fast Track (DFT) system. If government representatives determined that a person’s asylum claim was uncomplicated, the government would then process the claim on an accelerated timescale while the asylum seeker remained in detention. Roughly 99% of asylum claims processed through this system were rejected.

After a series of legal challenges, courts ruled that the DFT functioned unfairly and violated detainees’ rights. For instance, asylum seekers lacked sufficient time to prepare appeals while in detention. Courts also determined that the safeguards designed to keep vulnerable asylum seekers out of detention and off of the DFT were inadequate. Many survivors of torture, trafficking, and other severe abuses were detained and could not gather the necessary evidence to support their asylum claims. As a result of the court decisions, the Minister of Immigration suspended the DFT in July 2015.

As a volunteer for an organization that supports immigration detainees in the United Kingdom, I have visited the centers near Heathrow airport and worked with detainees in-person and over the phone. I have spoken to hundreds of clients that expressed fear, isolation, anger, depression, and confusion about their detention. I have worked with survivors of torture and trafficking, many of whom suffered from deteriorating mental health under the stresses of detention.

There are common themes in many of the conversations—detainees do not understand why they are treated like criminals in high-security facilities; many asylum seekers are shocked that a country like the United Kingdom maintains such draconian policies towards people seeking protection; and most have lost faith in the government to handle their immigration claims fairly. Asylum seekers who have fled nightmarish situations around the world come to regret their decision to seek safety in the United Kingdom. They conclude that the rhetoric of human rights so often employed by government officials and politicians is nothing more than an empty promise. The scale of immigration detentions and the conditions within the centers harms thousands of asylum seekers and migrants annually in the United Kingdom.

The situation in the United States is far worse. According to the Global Detention Project, the United States operates the largest immigration detention system in the world. On average, the daily population of immigration detainees exceeds 30,000. Populations within the centers include foreigners with prior criminal convictions, but also include undocumented immigrants, asylum seekers, unaccompanied minors, and families—many of whom have not committed any crimes.

There are nearly 1,000 immigration detention sites of varying size within the United States. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) often rents local jail cells to hold detainees or subcontracts the maintenance of large detention centers to private companies. Detainees typically lack access to adequate legal representation and they do not have a right to a government-appointed attorney. Physical, including sexual, abuse claims are common, and many detainees are unable to access proper medical care.

The toll on detainees and their families is severe, yet immigration detention centers remain hidden from public view. In these secretive sites, the universal right to be free from arbitrary detention—enshrined in domestic and international law—is regularly violated. To learn more about the scale and nature of immigration detention in the United States, as well as community-based alternatives to detention, you can visit the website of the Detention Watch Network (http://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org).

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