© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Protests continue about the tens of thousands incarcerated for ICE

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

The Biden administration has cut the number of migrants that private prison corporations are holding by half. But contractors still incarcerate 28,000 people for ICE. That's the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. There have been protests. And now, after two deaths, immigrant advocates are calling for a crackdown on shoddy medical care. Colorado Public Radio's Matt Bloom reports.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: No more.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: No more.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: No more.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: No more.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Spanish).

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Speaking Spanish).

MATT BLOOM, BYLINE: A few dozen people protested outside of the ICE detention center in Aurora, Colo., last fall. It's run by the private company GEO Group. A 39-year-old Nicaraguan asylum seeker it held at the facility died a few weeks earlier. Melvin Ariel Calero-Mendoza was fleeing gang violence and looking for work when he entered the U.S. illegally last year.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Melvin Ariel Calero-Mendoza, within this building.

BLOOM: Calero-Mendoza hurt his foot in a soccer game inside the jail. An autopsy concluded that a lack of adequate medical care likely led to his death from a blood clot months later. Protester Alondra Gil-Gonzalez holds ICE and GEO Group responsible.

ALONDRA GIL-GONZALEZ: It's just not fair that people are having to be in such horrible conditions and be afraid of dying one day just because they want to experience this American dream that is kind of, like, advertised to every single one of us as we were a child.

BLOOM: A statement from GEO Group, which declined an interview request, says the company provided 24/7 access to medical care and that it's cooperating with an investigation into Calero-Mendoza's death. But advocates and experts say deaths continue in private jails under ICE, including in California in March.

PARVEEN PARMAR: There is something about the system that is leading to these repeated errors.

BLOOM: Parveen Parmar, University of Southern California physician, studied dozens of deaths in ICE detention between 2011 and 2018. She found in a majority of cases, nursing staff missed warning signs.

PARMAR: Often, the correct clinician is not available to see a patient when they're in distress. You know, it may be somebody who's well trained in their profession, but they're not the appropriate profession to actually see somebody who's ill.

BLOOM: ICE itself has found shoddy care in many private detention facilities. The agency declined an interview request, but last fall, a Department of Homeland Security investigation recommended shutting one down in New Mexico. Detainees, held by CoreCivic there, had to drink water from a mop sink, and staff shortages were so bad, some suicide watch shifts went unfilled. The facility remains open.

RON VITIELLO: It's unfortunate, obviously, right? But those are some of the consequence of, you know, what the angecy's charged to do.

BLOOM: Ron Vitiello was an acting director of ICE during the Trump administration. He says the agency has shut down the worst-of-the-worst facilities in recent years. But he says it's difficult for ICE to end contracts.

VITIELLO: It's something that could be remediated, we did that. If not, then we went on a path not to do business with those folks.

BLOOM: At least five states have passed limits on local governments contracting with private prisons for immigrant detention. But in New Mexico, which, like California, has a Democratic governor and majority state house, the effort failed.

JERRY ORTIZ Y PINO: You would have thought we were pulling down heaven and - you know, the pillars of heaven were being shaken by this.

BLOOM: State Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino says Democrats representing border districts opposed the bill due to security concerns.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Speaking Spanish).

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Speaking Spanish).

BLOOM: Protesters, like those outside the private jail in Aurora last fall, want ICE to abolish detention centers and let people live with families while waiting for immigration court dates.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Melvin Calero-Mendoza.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Presente.

BLOOM: Guadalupe Lopez is an asylum seeker who was released from detention last year.

GUADALUPE LOPEZ: (Through interpreter) He was just a person who was wanting to make a better life, and then he died at the hands of these people. And it was really hard for me and very sad.

BLOOM: An inspector general report on his case is expected to come out later this month. Lopez and others hope maybe there will be some accountability after that. For NPR News, I'm Matt Bloom.

(SOUNDBITE OF BON IVER SONG, "HOLOCENE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Matt Bloom
Matt is a passionate journalist who loves nothing more than good reporting, music and comedy. At KUNC, he covers breaking news stories and the economy. He’s also reported for KPCC and KCRW in Los Angeles. As NPR’s National Desk intern in Culver City during the summer of 2015, he produced one of the first episodes of Embedded, the NPR podcast hosted by Kelly McEvers where reporters take a story from the headlines and “go deep.”

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.