Immigrants Held in U.S. Government-Funded Facilities during and after COVID-Era Border Restrictions

Background and Purpose: Although the criminal justice system and immigration detention system are distinct, they have historically interacted, particularly during the COVID-19 global pandemic. During the pandemic, the apprehension and detention of immigrants under Title 42 facilitated increased child-family separation and deportation. Minors under government care experienced prolonged custody, abuse, and neglect. Extended border patrolling and other customs enforcement measures contributed to increased incarceration of immigrants while preventing pandemic containment. The adverse conditions of immigrants will continue to persist while they remain in confinement. This exploratory qualitative study is guided by these two research questions: 1) From the perspective of service providers, what are the conditions at immigration facilities for immigrant youth and adults in custody? 2) What is the impact of immigrant detention on immigrants’ overall well-being?

Methods: Literature reviews and semi-structured in-depth interviews with open ended questions were conducted with immigrant service providers at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic during spring 2020. Convenience sampling of immigrant service providers was utilized to document the precarious conditions and vulnerabilities among immigrants in custody, particularly during the pandemic, when immigrant detention facilities were locked-in. The study analyzed structural, endemic, and environmental causes of migration, and the health impact of prolonged detention of immigrants. It inferred typologies of detention and shelter facilities where adult, families, and child were held in custody by immigration authorities.

Results: The interview findings support the other scholarly work regarding immigrant detention. The public health restrictions imposed under Title 42 at the border undermined the rights of recent immigrants to asylum and other forms of relief, many of them from the Central American Northern Triangle. The study found that during the pandemic immigration facilities were turned into COVID-19 “hotbeds” resulting in risks of contagion. Incarceration centers posed challenges for social distancing, hand sanitation, and other preventive measures; these conditions, combined with a lack of proper healthcare among confined immigrants, made detention lethal. Findings suggest immigration policies and practices have resulted in prolonged incarceration, massive deportation, and increased child-family separations.

Conclusions and Implications: The study confirmed that the detention and custody of immigrants in the U.S. violates human and civil rights. It acknowledged the challenges social workers face to promote the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities. The characterization of immigrant detention offered can be instrumental in more targeted provision of services to immigrants and refugees. Since immigrants continue to fill the beds emptied by the decarceration movement, the authors concluded that immigrants’ human and civil rights were violated prior to and these violations will continue beyond the expiration of Title 42 in May 2023. As immigration policy and climate and culture are constantly changing and an increased influx of immigrants is observed at the Southern U.S.-Mexican border, the authors suggested follow up studies on immigrant detention as well as alternatives to immigrant detention.