What explanations exist for demographic differences in detention centers?

According to a report by the ACLU, the number of women detained and the proportion of women in detention are on the rise: women and girls made up 14.5% of the population detained by ICE in 2016, a 60% increase from 2009. The majority of asylum seekers, however, remain to be able-bodied men in their twenties and thirties. The demographic breakdown of asylum seekers makes sense, considering the arduous, and often fatal journey of crossing the border. During the Trump administration, border security was heightened and made more strict for those seeking asylum, resulting in the creation of even more detention centers (Burnett, 2021). The severe patrolling at the border gave asylum seekers and migrants two choices to enter the US: either take dangerous and covert routes to hopefully enter the US illegally, often resulting in risk of injury or death, or possibly be placed in detention centers indefinitely once arriving at the border (Steinberg 2020). Either choice has incredible risks attached, so it is usually men in peak condition who are able to make the journey to the US. Their lack of disabilities is then used against them when they arrive at the detention centers, as they have do not have disabilities that would get them released early nor the traditional "victim" status of women to garner sympathy for their plight; therefore, men in general experience the longest stays in detention centers.

How does gender shape the experience of asylum seekers in detention centers?

An asylum seeker's experience in a detention center is heavily influenced by their gender. While women are more at risk for violence like sexual abuse and forced sterilization, men are likely to be held in detention centers longer since they are not considered "at risk" and often do not have access to resources that would allow them to be granted parole.

The University of Arizona’s Binational Migration Institute conducted a study that reported that women are almost 3 times more likely to die when attempting to cross the borders using these clandestine routes; however, women placed in detention centers at the border are also disproportionately subjected to various forms of abuse than men (Steinberg 2020). The Center for American Progress found that women in American detention centers can be subjected to physical and verbal abuse, sexual violence, restriction of medical aid, mental health issues from isolation and separation from family members, and more (Ellmann 2019). The Performance-Based National Detention Standards (PBNDS) of 2011 requires the centers to provide women access to healthcare including HIV treatment, hormone treatment for transgender women, contraception, and a myriad of other forms of healthcare, but according to American Progress, ICE detention centers are able to deviate from these standards at the discretion of their detention center directors. As a result, the centers are characterized by abundant neglect, a lack of access to healthcare, and conducting procedures without patient consent. Women often do not receive necessary healthcare or receive unwanted procedures that can be detrimental and often result in serious harm or even death.

In the U.S., asylum seekers who are found to have a credible fear of persecution in their home countries by an asylum officer and do not pose a flight risk or danger to the community are eligible to be released from detention through a mechanism called “parole.” Yet, over 70% of people in new immigration detention centers are under the jurisdiction of the New Orleans ICE field office, which denied 99% of all applications for release, even after a federal court ordered the office to reverse this practice and grant parole to all eligible asylum seekers. People detained in these centers told researchers about their experiences, detailing how ICE officers go to extreme lengths to prevent asylum seekers from being granted parole; from denying the existence of the court order to telling people they simply could not apply and that parole was only granted to people who are pregnant or on the verge of death, ICE has made it practically impossible for asylum seekers to end their detention, even when they’re eligible to under U.S immigration law. Considering that most asylum seekers are young, able-bodied men, a majority of the people in detention centers do not fit these criteria, making it easy for officers to disregard parole applications. ICE weaponizes traditional patriarchal values surrounding the vulnerability of women and men and what it means to be at risk, abusing its detention power.

Placing asylum seekers in the care of private firms has enabled the abuse of detainees and facilitated the violation of their rights. The ACLU cites problems such as understaffing, abuse, lack of medical care, and lack of mental health treatment as thematic in private detention facilities. It is typical for just one doctor to work in facilities of 1500+ detainees, and it is rare for these doctors to speak Spanish. When detainees can access much-needed medical staff, they are at times denied access to the actual care they are seeking. Punishments in these facilities can exceed 30-day stays in solitary confinement, and some former detainees even reported being held in isolation for months. It is no small issue that some detainees have been allegedly beaten after speaking to the press. Legal services are rare in these facilities and, if present at all, they are often made inaccessible. Some facilities have even had detainees report that they were forced to sign documents they didn't understand that were against their best interests. All of this abuse is happening at the hands of private individuals, but on a macro-level calls into question the state’s monopoly on violence. The hyper-masculine posturing by guards is not accounted for by their employers - and this enables guards to abuse detainees with little oversight. Lacking access to legal services and being punished for whistleblowing are specific ways that detainees have their agency limited by private guards, who are well outside of their rights.

Women are increasingly being held in for-profit private detention centers that are contracted by the government, yet privately operated. Giving corporations and other non-state owners the power to control the status and condition of asylum seekers shifts the responsibility of their care from the state to private entities, meaning less oversight and more violations of federal detention standards. This change in power directly translates into increased risks of violence for women and longer detention center stays for men. Asylum seekers already have limited agency when arriving at the border, but without the supposed legal protections they have from the state, they are pretty much at the mercy of private detention centers.

What actions can we take?