SAN DIEGO — Immigration detainees at Imperial Regional Detention Facility say they have been placed in solitary confinement after speaking out about conditions there.
The allegation is among several in a complaint filed Tuesday with the Department of Homeland Security Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties through the help of a group of immigrant rights organizations. Detainees said in the complaint that staff at the facility, which is located in Calexico, California, falsified charges against them to send them to segregated housing units — or solitary confinement — after they filed grievances about staff behavior and facility conditions.
One detainee said that he faced retaliation after talking with officials from the DHS Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties about issues at Imperial, and several detainees said they were disciplined after participating in a complaint about the facility's air quality in January 2022.
