How they got the story: Private ICE detention centers fail to prosecute detainee abuse cases
J. Lee, 38, was detained over the summer at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center for overstaying a tourist visa. While there, he said, he was sexually assaulted by his cellmate. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
California police have received hundreds of calls about cases of abuse and violence in the state's four private federal detention centers run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). According to a Los Angeles Times investigation led by reporters Andrea Castillo and 2018 Data Fellow Paloma Esquivel, of the at least 265 calls made to police since 2017, half alleged sex crimes against detainees. "In only three cases in which detainees said they were victimized did records show a suspect was charged, The Times found, and in two of those, the suspects were deported before they could be arrested," Castillo and Esquivel wrote in their report.
In this video interview, CHJ community editor Chinyere Amobi speaks with Castillo and Esquivel about their investigation, including road blocks they encountered when trying to access data from local police departments and ICE, and what tips they have for other journalists hoping to report on privately run federal detention centers.
Castillo and Esquivel's story was reported with support from the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s Data Fellowship.
[Their story was originally published by The Los Angeles Times.]