AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
As the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement efforts, advocates and attorneys say they are seeing higher levels of overcrowding at detention centers. And as WYPR's Emily Hofstaedter reports from Baltimore, that overcrowding is often leading to inhumane conditions.
EMILY HOFSTAEDTER, BYLINE: April Amaya-Luis has been living in Maryland since crossing the Southern border illegally two decades ago. On February 4, she went for her routine check-in with her probation officer for a January misdemeanor assault.
APRIL AMAYA-LUIS: (Through interpreter) When I left the appointment, I didn't imagine immigration officers would be waiting for me on my way out.
HOFSTAEDTER: They handcuffed her, and by late that evening, she was transported to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore, in a downtown federal office building. She says her room had no window. She was never taken outside for fresh air or recreation. She was held alone. Her attorneys say, that could be because she's transgender.
AMAYA-LUIS: (Through interpreter) I would sleep on the floor. There was a concrete structure that looked kind of like a stage. I would sleep there.
HOFSTAEDTER: At first, she said she was given peanut butter and jelly sandwiches daily. But when she asked for something else, she said the guards stopped feeding her completely. She thinks she went between four and five days without food. Amaya-Luis spent a total of seven nights in a holding room that, per ICE policy, is only designed for a 12-hour stay. WYPR spoke with multiple lawyers who said their clients in other cities faced similar treatment. Attorney Rachel Girod represents Amaya-Luis and several others who have gone through the Baltimore holding rooms.
RACHEL GIROD: I was told yesterday by the person I consulted with that his family member was being held in a room where everybody had to sleep on the floor, and it was 15 or 20 people in one room.
HOFSTAEDTER: ICE didn't respond to multiple requests for an interview but instead sent a statement saying they are committed to enforcing immigration laws fairly, safely and humanely. The problem isn't isolated to Baltimore, and overcrowding has long been an issue at many ICE detention facilities, but it's gotten worse this year. ICE's existing detention facilities are at full capacity. The number of detainees has steadily increased since late January when the Trump administration started reporting new data.
At the Krome Detention Center in Miami, litigation director Paul Chavez with Americans for Immigrant Justice, says in March they began to hear reports of people being kept on buses, in one case for as long as three days until ICE could find additional space.
PAUL CHAVEZ: In one of the stories, they said that the bathroom on the bus overflowed, and it just, of course, was just awful. So basically stinking everybody out, people trying to get out of the bus or being forced to sleep back in it on the bus seats.
HOFSTAEDTER: Chavez says clients have reported being in rooms where multiple people are sleeping on the floor. Many immigration advocates say this overflow is due to ICE's sweeping immigration crackdowns. Chavez and others say even a few months ago, ICE field officers would typically set most people up with an ankle monitor and a plan to check in with immigration courts.
CHAVEZ: So we're just seeing more and more people held, fewer and fewer people getting bond, much less prosecutorial discretion.
HOFSTAEDTER: Immigration advocates say ICE could ease the problem by being more selective in who it detains. For NPR News, I'm Emily Hofstaedter.
(SOUNDBITE OF ELI WINTER'S "BRAIN ON ICE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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