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VEGAS INC "The city's profits are dependent on inhuman immigration policies, and that's what makes this appalling," said Bob Fulkerson, director of Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, an advocacy group for immigrants. "This inhumane rounding up of fathers and mothers and families and throwing them into these inhumane prison conditions for civil penalties has to stop." Since 2011, federal directives to focus on criminal immigrants have lowered the chances of people like Ledesma and Garcia being detained. Several immigration attorneys in Las Vegas said they have seen a marked improvement from ICE's use of alternative monitoring, such as GPS-enabled ankle bracelets. Rex Velasquez, Ledesma's attorney, said his client most likely would not be detained today. The rate of apprehensions, Velasquez said, has gone down over the past two years, especially for immigrants with no criminal charges. But authorities often still detain immigrants based on yearsold lesser charges, such as loitering or driving under the influence. "It bothers me as a taxpayer that revenue is being generated by locking people up," Velasquez said. "It's a sad commentary on the immigration system and society in general. Using detention as a revenue generator was never intended." ••• President Barack Obama directed ICE to focus on detaining and deporting immigrants with criminal records and those deemed a threat to public safety. But the lIllegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 expanded the number of offenses that could lead to deportation. In many cases, ICE has no discretion on whom to detain. "Private corporations lobbied very hard to get Congress to toughen the laws," said Peter Ashman, a Las Vegas immigration attorney and head of the local chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. "A lot of it was 9/11 and hysteria over immigrants, which was somewhat understandable but not based in fact. Before that, in 1996, they made a whole new class of immigration violations, and that created a need for detention facilities." In 2006, as part of appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security, Congress designated a "bed mandate," forcing ICE to fill 34,000 detention beds a day or risk budget cuts. "The quota is totally unprecedented," said Silky Shah, interim executive director of the Detention Watch | 16 DECEMBER 2013 20131216_VI01_F.indd 17 | Network, a national advocacy group. "No law enforcement agency has ever had a quota set in stone like this. The whole detention system is a colossal waste of taxpayer money." The primary reason for detention is to ensure detainees show up for court proceedings, Shah said. Pilot programs exploring alternatives to detention, such as checking in at an ICE field office regularly, have shown 96 percent compliance rates, she said. Recent data show 38 percent of detainees have a criminal conviction. Fewer than 11 percent held in the first half of 2013 "met the agency's stated goal of targeting individuals who pose a serious threat to public safety or national security," according to the TRAC Immigration Project. ••• An October 2011 U.S. Office of Detention Oversight report on the Henderson Detention Center found the jail to be "well-managed and in compliance." But the report also detailed 31 deficiencies. Detainees reported they were threatened and had mail opened and inspected without their supervision, a policy violation. Immigrant detainees are not entitled to legal counsel and more than 80 percent go through detention without representation, according to Detention Watch. But detainees are supposed to have access to a law library to research their case. Some detainees in Henderson said they were allowed to use the law library only in the middle of the night, from midnight to 7 a.m. "There was a cumulative effect of denying counsel to the detainees," UNLV law professor Fatma Marouf said. "Some were denied phone calls, their legal mail is opened or lost, and they have to choose between building their own case or sleep." Not all detainees had complaints about the Henderson jail. Ledesma and Garcia said it was nicer than the other facilities where they had been kept. "The actual facility is nice and clean," Ledesma wrote on a makeshift journal kept during her detention. "The others call this place 'Disneyland.' We get three meals a day with lock down right after (dinner). During the day we have common room time when we are free to watch a movie, shower and call." Immigration attorney Peter Ashman said he never experienced problems among his clients at the Henderson jail and has found the jail staff to be helpful and accommodating. "Of course the detainees are not happy to be there," Ashman said. "Part of the problem is most are not criminals; they are people with status issues. So these are noncriminals being held with criminals. It's scary and frustrating, and a lot of them — even if they have a claim to residency with merit — choose to go home over being locked up in jail." ICE officials said they are statutorily obligated to hold more than threequarters of the current detainees because of their case histories. According to ICE, 108 of Henderson's 223 detained immigrants had been convicted of an aggravated felony or multiple felonies, and 102 either had a felony conviction or multiple misdemeanor convictions. If ICE did not use the Henderson Detention Center, the agency would be forced to use facilities in Utah, California or Arizona, "distancing detainees from their relatives and legal counsel and substantially increasing ICE's transportation costs," ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said. ••• Jorge Espinosa, 50, came to the United States in 1986 from Mexico. He entered legally with a visa and eventually obtained a work permit. He has spent more than half his life, 27 years, in the United States. In 2001, he wanted to apply for permanent residency but says an unscrupulous lawyer duped him, took his money and filed improper paperwork. When a judge issued a deportation order, Espinosa was on his own. In August 2011, he was arrested outside his house. Jailed in the Henderson Detention Center for 23 days, he says he was given several injections without anyone telling him what they were. He also says he was continually harassed to sign legal documents against his will. "I always followed the laws and paid taxes," said Espinosa, who has depleted his savings on lawyers. "I was defrauded by that lawyer. Now I'm treated like a criminal with my own tax money. Animals have more rights, and they don't pay taxes." Since 2011, the Henderson facility has undergone six reviews or inspections, according to ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley. The reviews include annual inspections by outside contractors and an on-site visit by representatives from the Department of Homeland Security's Civil Rights and Civil Liberties division. The center has been found in compliance every time. Cranor said critics are holding the jail to detention standards above those the city is obligated to meet in its contract with ICE. The center is expected to comply with national detention standards set in 2000, not updated standards written in 2008 or 2011 that provide for higher benchmarks of care and safety. Haley said ICE was moving with the updated standards from the top down, starting with facilities with the largest detainee populations. Shah said issues could be found at any detention facility across the country. "The problem is that oversight and regulations are toothless," Shah said. "There is absolutely no thirdparty oversight. There are some basic standards that facilities are supposed to abide by, but they are not codified. Even if the centers are not up to standards, because it's not codified, they won't lose their contracts." ••• The UNLV law school team has requested an independent audit of the jail with the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, ACLU of Nevada and Immigration Reform for Nevada. "Henderson made the deal, and now it's part of their responsibility to ensure that they are doing business in a humane and professional manner," PLAN director Bob Fulkerson said. "You cannot say that about this detention facility. It's not humane and it's not professional, and now that the city has been informed about this, they have a responsibility to help change it. They can still protect their investment. They don't have to walk away from it. But they have to get involved and be part of the solution." Cranor said the city is reviewing the report and would address issues raised with ICE to ensure compliance. He noted the jail already receives independent audits from federal and private inspectors. The immigration reform legislation being debated in Congress this year would have allowed ICE more leeway in determining who gets detained, but efforts to pass reform stalled. Martin Martinez and Jorge Espinosa are due to be deported next month Martinez, who works two jobs, will have to leave his wife and son behind Espinosa's wife also faces deportation. One of their children is a U.S. citizen, and two others have won legal status through deferred action. "I don't need anything from the government, and I'm not asking for anything," Martinez said. "All I need is the opportunity to work, the opportunity to maintain my family and not be a public charge. If I leave my wife and child, they will not be able to afford the apartment and food. They are going to be asking for help from the government. What has been accomplished then?" 17 12/12/13 3:58:07 PM

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