US: Number of Migrants Growing in Prison Centers · Global Voices

Alexander Martinez says he fled to the United States to escape from the notorious MS-13 and homophobic gang in his native country of El Salvador, but adds that abuse and harassment also accompanied him to the American immigration detention system.

Since the month of April, when it illegally crossed the US-Mexican border, the 28-year-old has been transferred to six different detention centres in three states.

He says that during this time he has been infected with COVID-19, he has faced racial insults and abuses by guards, while detainees molest him for being gay.

I'm doing 47 days in the ban and I've seen approximately 13 immigrants trying to cut their veins or hang themselves because the way we're treated is inhuman”, says the immigrant from El-Salvador.

In May, President Biden's administration terminated contracts with two controversial detention centres -- one in Georgia and the other in Massachusetts -- welcomed by activists as the beginning of the changes.

A White House spokesman said President Biden's budget lowers funds for the number of beds in custody, and adds them to review asylum requirements.

Mr. Martinez in May completed the first phase of the asylum process, and his case was considered reliable that if he returned to his country, he could face consequences.

His lawyers say he is being held incorrectly in custody, as authorities suspect he is a member of the MS-13 gang.

The detainees and their lawyers call for closure of detention centres, while demanding that monitoring of migrants be done with monitoring equipment and other measures.

I call on the authorities of this country, organisations that support immigration reform and President Joe Biden not to allow immigrants to be treated inhumanally in corrective centres”, says Mr. Martinez.

Last month, immigrants held at the Bergen municipality prison in New Jersey filed a complaint to the National Security Civil Rights office, seeking investigation into serious sanitation and medical neglect during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even so did the detainees at the Plymouth City Hall in Massachusetts, who complained about stopping visits.

Massachusetts resident Allison Cullen says she has not been allowed to meet her husband, Brazilian national, before pandemic.

“The situation has hurt my family a lot. It's not about justice, it's not about making America safer, it's not about community security. This is a dark age for America”, says over the phone in a call with his wife, Flavius Andrade Prado, an immigrant from Brazil in custody.

Mrs. Cullen says their two-year-old daughter hasn't met her father for months.

Imgrent Prado says he has lost confidence in politicians who are accused of promising a lot, but fail to realise them when they take office.