KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva covers stories in the Northland. She also focuses on issues surrounding immigration. Share your story idea with Fernanda.
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Civil rights organizations and former ICE detainees claim the federal facility in Leavenworth is violating the rights of immigrants.
“It really was something very, very heavy,” said former detainee Jose Fernández.
Fernández was at the Federal Correctional Institution in Leavenworth for almost two months.
“We were locked up for four days without bathing or anything,” he said.
He described the conditions as inhumane.
“It’s something that it’s hard to explain,” Fernández said in Spanish during a Zoom interview.
Fernández spoke with KSHB 41's Fernanda Silva virtually as he's now in Brazil.
Originally from Venezuela, Fernández was detained by ICE in Chicago and later transferred to Leavenworth.
“To get medication, you pretty much had to be on the verge of fainting for them to notice you were feeling bad,” Fernández said.
And without access to translation services, the situation was even harder.
“As a person, you want to express yourself so that you can be heard,” Fernández said.
Many of his concerns were addressed in a letter written by multiple local and national civil rights organizations. Lengthy lockdowns, deprivation of basic needs, crowded and unsanitary conditions, lack of telephone access, and use of force were mentioned in the letter.
“We're just talking about human rights abuses in general here,” said Karla Juarez.
Juare serves as the executive director of Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation, one of the organizations that signed the letter.
“There is a major difference between how they treat immigrant detainees versus people held on criminal charges,” she said.
KSHB 41 reached out to FCI Leavenworth, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which oversees the facility, and to ICE.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons received the letter but had no comments, only stating the agency is "committed to ensuring the safety and security of all inmates in our population, our staff and the public."
Juarez said more needs to be done.
“We shouldn’t be treating any human less than,” Juarez said.
The letter includes a list of recommendations, including the “release of all immigrant detainees who have won their cases before an immigration Judge.”
It also requests “that units holding people in ICE custody are not locked down, including due to insufficient staffing or as retaliation.”
READ | Full letter
Fernández was deported in April. Starting his life anew, he feels he will never forget what he went through.
“Knowing that you're there just because you are an immigrant from some country looking for a better future is something frustrating,” Fernández said.
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