There were more than 45 people in a cold room roughly the size of his kitchen, an asylum seeker living in Maine told Maine Morning Star of the conditions under which he was recently detained at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s New England Regional Headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts.
He and other detainees slept on the floor. Meals provided were minimal. The toilet was in that same room, with no barrier for privacy and a camera located above it, so anyone using it could be seen by those in the room and presumably others watching from elsewhere.
The two-story office building is typically used for administrative work but now federal authorities are holding many immigration detainees there, with lawyers calling the setup “abysmal” and “unsanitary” in sworn affidavits submitted in federal court.
Those conditions appear to have subsided following a surge of upwards of 200 people who had been held there throughout recent weeks, according to Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine, who visited the facility on Thursday when there were about eight detainees.
It was relatively clean and full of snacks, Pingree told reporters Friday morning, “but there’s no escaping this notion that when you walk in there, you’re seeing four very dark and uncomfortable cells that could never hold what they say is 25 people.”
The account of the asylum seeker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, and other immigrants detained there reveal even more people have been held in a cell at times. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not respond to requests for comment about the accusations of poor conditions.
“I think they attempted to give us the best picture of the facility possible,” Pingree said. “I think the story I could tell you would be very different if we had had the opportunity to walk in there during the height of the surge.”
Although Congress is a co-equal branch of government, its members must provide Homeland Security seven-day notice before visiting immigration facilities. This policy was created by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, despite a 2019 appropriations law that allows for unannounced visits by lawmakers.
“It is our job to do oversight and inspection,” Pingree said, “and none of us can know what goes on in government facilities if we’re not allowed to walk in without seven days’ notice.”
“That’s nothing like being able to make a surprise visit.”
Members of Congress have an ongoing lawsuit pushing back on the notice policy, and the next ruling could come as soon as the end of this week, Pingree said.
When asked what other options Congress has, Pingree said members could withhold funding for the agency, but that’s ultimately up to the Republican majority.
“This is just an unwillingness of the Republicans,” Pingree said. “Maybe they don’t want to have to have the obligation to go in and see what needs to be seen.”
Detentions in New England
There are few immigration detention facilities in New England.
The only ICE facility in Maine, which is located in Scarborough, is an administrative building for routine immigration check-ins with three small short-term holding cells. Immigrant detainees have largely been held in Maine jails, though the federal government has since moved away from that practice after Cumberland County sheriff publicly rebuked the detention of his corrections officer recruit.
The asylum seeker who spoke with Maine Morning Star said he was transferred from vehicle to vehicle the day of his detention and driven to other parts of the state — including behind Lowe’s and the parking lot of a local business — as agents detained and filled those vehicles with others.
After spending almost a week at the Burlington facility, he was told he was going to be sent to Illinois, and put in a vehicle to be taken to the airport, but his attorney filed an emergency petition and a judge put in place an order preventing his transfer to another state. Later that night, he was transferred to a different facility in Massachusetts.
Several immigrants detained in Maine in recent weeks have been swiftly moved out of state. Many to the facility in Burlington or others in Massachusetts. Some farther, to facilities in Louisiana, Arizona and Texas.
Pingree said her office is also planning to schedule a visit by the end of the month to one of those larger detention facilities in the South.
“I do not want anyone to think that this is changing,” Pingree said. “I think it’s going to continue to get dramatically worse. I think that’s the reason that there is an impetus now to build so many more detention centers.”
The federal government is increasing its network of immigrant detention centers across the country.
Documents released by New Hampshire’s governor last week show that Homeland Security plans to spend $38.2 billion allocated by Congress in Trump’s signature spending law to acquire and retrofit warehouses or other sites across the country into eight “large scale detention centers” and 16 “processing sites.” That’s in addition to 10 existing “turnkey” facilities ICE already operates.
One of those regional processing sites is planned for Merrimack, New Hampshire. The documents describe a roughly 325,000-square-foot detention facility with a projected 400 to 600 beds.
Confiscated documents
Pingree also pressed ICE agents on an issue that has increased among those detained in Maine during the recent surge: not getting back personal documents, such as driver’s licenses and work permits, after being detained.
Officers told her Thursday that they’re working to address the issue, but Pingree is forging ahead with crafting legislation to clarify that ICE must return those personal items.
Agents took the license of the man who spoke with Maine Morning Star, and he’s yet to get it back about a week after being released.
Others have had their work permits confiscated. Pingree’s office said sometimes it takes months to get a replacement, and the federal government has upped the price tag.
Pingree said her office helped in the case of a woman who was sent to a detention center in Ohio and “released without winter clothing, no money, no paperwork, had really, literally nothing to be able to fly on an airplane or come back to Maine.”
While her office and community groups assisted her return, “that’s just a typical story of someone who has nothing when they get out,” Pingree said.
