ELOY, Ariz. — More than 100 immigrants detained at the Eloy Detention Center have signed an open letter alleging systemic medical neglect, prolonged confinement, retaliation by detention staff and other human rights abuses at one of the nation’s largest privately operated Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities, according to reporting by the Arizona Daily Star summarized in a Solitary Watch weekly news roundup.
The Arizona Daily Star reported that many immigrants held at the Eloy Detention Center have already prevailed in their asylum cases but remain in custody while the federal government appeals those decisions, extending their detention despite favorable immigration rulings.
The open letter, written by detainee Andres David Torres Chirino and signed by 120 immigrants, alleges that detainees are confined daily in “prison-like cells” for prolonged periods designed to “break detainees psychologically so they abandon legal battles to seek protection in the U.S.”
According to the Arizona Daily Star, Liz Casey, an advocacy social worker with the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project who has authored multiple reports documenting detention-condition grievances, said guards at the detention center “know that there’s little to no oversight and really no consequences for violating people’s rights, for abuse, for medical neglect […] there doesn’t seem to be any type of accountability or consequences.”
Torres Chirino also told the Arizona Daily Star in a phone interview that guards have abused their authority by withholding medical care and confiscating detainees’ legal documents. He also described guards issuing disciplinary reports against detainees that he said were intended to undermine their immigration cases.
Torres Chirino described deteriorating conditions inside the facility, saying the “tap water caused stomach illnesses, throat issues and diarrhea,” while poorly maintained air conditioning circulated dust that contributed to additional illnesses. He also said detainees endured the smell of raw sewage after a pipe broke and ICE officials failed to respond. According to Torres Chirino, detainees have also been placed in solitary confinement.
Torres Chirino described spending time in a segregation unit known among detainees as “el hoyo,” or “the hole,” where individuals are isolated from others for extended periods and permitted only “one hour for recreation on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays,” according to the Arizona Daily Star.
The Arizona Daily Star reported that Phoenix ICE spokesperson Fernando Burgos-Ortiz disputed those allegations in a written response to Torres Chirino’s letter, stating that the agency does not use solitary confinement.
Instead, Burgos-Ortiz said ICE uses segregation only when necessary to protect staff and detainees, adding that “many detainees are violent and dangerous criminals with documented offenses.”
Torres Chirino also alleged that transgender women have been housed with cisgender men, saying “that invades both people’s space and can create problems.”
Burgos-Ortiz said detainees are housed according to biological sex, citing President Donald Trump’s executive order, “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”
Torres Chirino further alleged that ICE houses detainees with criminal convictions alongside individuals who have no criminal convictions. Although his housing unit was intended for detainees with criminal convictions, he said more than 80% of those assigned to the unit had no criminal record.
The letter alleges a broad pattern of detention abuses, including delayed or inadequate medical care, psychological abuse, physical abuse, housing detainees of different gender identities together and, at times, serving unhygienic food.
Torres Chirino said he wrote the letter in hopes of improving conditions inside the detention center and drawing public attention to detainees’ concerns. He also said he filed formal grievances with ICE but saw no changes as a result.
“Nothing has changed,” Torres Chirino said. “Everything is the same.”
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