FOIA Documents Show Troubling Gaps in Transparency at Torrance County Detention Facility

The Torrance County Detention Facility, located in the remote deserts of New Mexico, is notorious for its mistreatment of migrants. The facility’s issues are compounded by the fact that Torrance has largely operated in secrecy. However, documents and data uncovered through a FOIA request have provided a glimpse into ICE detention practices into the facility.

The American Immigration Council published a report on October 24 highlighting concerning trends about detention stays at Torrance and gaps in the data that could show disparities in the treatment of vulnerable populations. Researchers analyzed data on race and ethnicity, as well as information on book ins and book outs, obtained from Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the Council. The data produced covered between January 1, 2021, to November 17, 2022, and researchers used it to construct a two-year timeline of the facility.

Background on the FOIA Request

In September 2021, tens of thousands of Haitian migrants began arriving at Del Rio, Texas to seek asylum in the United States. While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) repatriated or returned thousands of these migrants before they had a chance to seek asylum, ICE placed hundreds of others into detention centers across the country. In particular, ICE placed dozens of Haitian migrants into Torrance, which had failed its annual inspection due to unhygienic conditions and severe staffing shortages. It also had nine noted operational deficiencies related to food service and medical care, as well as dozens of reported cases of post-order prolonged detention. Shortly afterward, media and advocacy groups began reporting on barriers Haitian migrants faced at Torrance related to attorney access and violations of due process.

The lack of transparency into the treatment of this vulnerable population prompted the Council to file a FOIA request for records related to ICE’s treatment of individuals held at Torrance. The Council sought to analyze ICE placement trends in the facility, and to discern whether disparities existed for Haitian nationals in detention. In August 2022, the Council filed a lawsuit to compel the agency to respond to the organization’s FOIA request. ICE finally released data on detention stays at Torrance in June 2023.

Gaps in Transparency Surrounding Race and Ethnicity

Researchers sought to discern whether disparities existed for racial and ethnic minorities in detention at Torrance. However, the report ultimately found that ICE did not adequately keep data on race and ethnicity.

This presented a challenge in examining inequitable treatment among migrants. On one end, ICE barely kept data on ethnicity—only 4% of individuals in the dataset had information on ethnicity. Due to the overwhelming lack of data, researchers were unable to conduct further analysis on this category.

As to race, the data indicated that while individuals in detention represented over 50 distinct countries spanning five continents, ICE categorized the overwhelming majority as racially “white.” Initially, the data showed that Black and white individuals had approximately the same lengths in detention. However, researchers noted that ICE’s broad categorization of individuals as racially “white” potentially skewed analysis on racial disparities.

When grouping individuals through geographic location, the data showed four main findings:

• Non-Europeans marked as racially “white” had some of the highest lengths in detention.
• Africans overall spent the highest lengths in detention.
• Nationals from North America (consisting of mainly Central American countries and the Caribbean) were the most common geographic region of origin for individuals detained at Torrance.
• European nationals were barely present at the facility.

The lack of consistent methods in documenting the race and ethnicity of individuals detained contributes to the difficulty in discerning whether disparities in detention exist.

ICE Placed Vulnerable Populations at Torrance Despite Red Flags

Documents and data revealed that ICE placement trends into Torrance between 2021 and 2022 showed a troubling pattern of indifference. Throughout 2021, numerous watchdog groups, government agencies, and inspectors noted ongoing abuses at the facility. Notably, Torrance failed a notoriously lax inspection in July 2021 due to unsanitary conditions and severe staffing issues. Despite red flags and continued calls to depopulate the facility, the data showed a growing population at Torrance.

In September 2021, less than two months after Torrance failed its annual inspection in July, ICE placed over 50 Haitians into Torrance. A series of emails across a six-week period showed the difficulty attorneys faced in reaching their clients. Despite documented attorney access issues, violations of due process, and continued pressure from human rights groups to address its attorney access issues, ICE continued to transfer more Haitians and other vulnerable populations into the facility. After months of advocacy by the Council and other human rights groups, ICE finally began releasing Haitians from Torrance. However, the data showed disparities in detention lengths between Haitians apprehended in Del Rio in comparison with other migrants at Torrance.

In 2022, ICE placement patterns into Torrance shifted. Rather than ignoring red flags, ICE seemingly began acknowledging issues at the facility — but only temporarily. Early in the year, a rare government-issued management alert called to depopulate Torrance after inspectors found “unsanitary living conditions” at the facility. Accordingly, the population at Torrance drastically fell. But just a month later, Torrance’s population began rapidly rising again. The data showed a similar pattern between August and September 2022 when an asylum-seeker died by suicide, and the government issued another report on violations of ICE detention standards at the facility. Torrance’s population immediately began decreasing following these events. However, before numbers could touch zero, ICE reversed course and rapidly began repopulating the facility.

Transparency in Detention Centers

The report’s findings highlight the importance of transparency into ICE detention centers.

The issues at Torrance are a microcosm of what immigration detention looks like. In addition to the issues that have been previously noted at Torrance, this analysis provides concerning signs of potentially disparate treatment of those detained.

As ICE continues to detain migrants across the country, and as mass detention remains in the political discourse, at a bare minimum, it is imperative that the agency provide more visibility into its practices.