The US government has jailed hundreds of immigrants in notorious federal prisons in a dramatic escalation of its detention practices, cutting people off from their attorneys and families and subjecting them to brutal conditions, according to accounts from behind bars.
Since February, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has increasingly used Bureau of Prisons (BoP) facilities to incarcerate immigrants facing deportation, records show. The partnership between BoP and Ice, two agencies that have generally operated separately, means people accused of civil immigration violations are being imprisoned in harsh environments of federal penitentiaries run by prison guards.
