According to an email sent by federal prison alliance officials, the Trump administration appears to be considering a plan to send immigrants facing deportation to a recently closed federal prison, suffering from sexual abuse, to the point known as a “rape club.”
About 20 miles east of Auckland, Dublin’s federal correctional agency closed last yearafter more than six correctional officers and former warden were charged with sexual abuse of female prisoners.
Currently, the Federal Bureau of Prisons website shows that there are no inmates in the facility, although the long-term fate of the complex has never been clear.
But on Thursday, the United States Federation of Government Employees’ Federation of Government Employees, representing federal prison staff, sent a request for information to the prison system for data related to the closure of the facility. In the four-page request, union leaders expressed concerns about the future of the facility.
“The Dublin FCI completed an assessment on at least July 22, 2024, which we believe is considered a ‘structural assessment’,” the letter said. “The union has learned that this assessment has been provided to ICE, which appears to be the potential to take over the facility on ice.”
The move comes days after the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed it was in some facilities for immigrant detainees, which sparked concerns among union officials who said the bureau appears to be preparing for a mass residency.
“I’m worried that the bureau will be a branch of the ice, but that’s not what we’re going to do,” John Kostelnik, vice president of the Western Regional Correctional Workers Alliance, told The Times. “Our main focus should be and has been keeping the community protected from convicted murderers and rapists, and our staff has done a tremendous job even when dealing with staffing crises.
“But now we’re doing an extra task that could undermine our ability to do what we should do,” he said.
Although the Bureau of Prisons confirmed in an email that it “assisted immigration and customs enforcement in the U.S. through housing detainees,” a prison spokesperson refused to provide information about the legal status of the detainees or will be placed.
A prison spokesperson listed “safety and security reasons” for refusing to comment, while another handed over all immigration-related issues to the ICE.
In an email Wednesday afternoon, ICE said its “enhanced enforcement actions” had purified enough arrests to “need greater detention capacity” even though the agency did not provide information about the required information.
“While we cannot confirm the dialogue before individual review, we can confirm that ICE is exploring all options to meet its current and future detention requirements,” the statement said.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has begun strengthening national immigration enforcement actions, pledging to deport “Millions” People who return to their own country. According to the Associated Press, Ice’s budget detains only about 41,000 people.
Often, these detainees are held in ice processing centers, private prison facilities and local prisons contracted with federal immigration officials. But as the new administration’s more ambitious target of deportation, officials began to recreate untry alternatives.
This month, the U.S. military began to transport detained immigrants to US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, CubaEl Salvador President Nayib Bukele Propose that our officials send immigrants – and American citizens – in the harsh prisons of his country.
The first sign of the White House planning to detain detained immigrants in U.S. federal prisons is like the early hours of last month.
On January 26, union leadership wrote to Senator Alex Padilla’s office, warning senior senators in the state that Trump officials have begun directing the Bureau of Prisons to make room for more inmates in facilities across the country.
“Currently, the Trump administration is reviewing the bed frame and requires facilities to consolidate prisoner manufacturing space (release the entire unit),” the letter said.
Costelnik said the last thing that happened was during Trump’s first term. At the time, BOP officials made room for 1,600 immigrants, including many asylum seekers, in federal prisons in Oregon, California, Arizona and Texas.
By August 2018 – Federal officials publicly confirm this controversial housing plan two months after two months – ACAF suesClaiming this violates the due process rights of immigrants in the Fifth Amendment. By October, News reports indicate the government The use of federal prisons to accommodate immigrant detainees has been withdrawn.
But those months were chaotic for detainees and prison staff who had the ability to protect immigrants, many of whom had different medical needs and cultural backgrounds than typical prisoners of the Bureau. Communication can sometimes become a challenge because many detainees do not speak English or any other language used by prison staff.
“I’m worried this will come soon, and all facilities in California are currently moving on this request, and they’re even preparing our bus personnel and professional team for similar tasks,” he wrote in a January email to Padilla’s office in January.
The first federal prison in California to live in detained immigrants appears to be the metropolitan detention center in downtown Los Angeles. According to two officials familiar with the situation, a homeland security investigation appeared in one weekend and there were about nine African immigrants. Officials requested anonymity because they did not have the right to speak publicly.
Initially, prison staff were unsure whether to accept detainees or how best to separate them from other inmates. Ultimately, they placed the people in the facility, creating additional work for employees, and one official said they handled the immigration differently than the typical federal prisoner.
The official also said that while the number of immigrants at residences in LA Lockup has not increased, he hopes it will start discussing how to adjust staff plans to handle more weekend intakes, according to the high number of points.
It is not clear how many other facilities are responsible for occupying immigration, but last week The Associated Press reported Federal Prison in Miami and federal prisons in Atlanta are also used for this purpose – internal BOP emails show that there may be more facilities.
Federal prison officials have begun asking workers to consider temporary tasks elsewhere to help manage the influx of detainees.
On Monday, a captain of FCI Sheridan, a mid-sized security facility in Oregon, emailed volunteers willing to work in Berlin nationwide, a medium-sized security facility in rural New Hampshire, which is expected to receive at least 500 immigrants from the ice.
“The staff will work in the mission of supporting the BOP’s temporary placement of ICE detainees,” explained Captain Joseph Seronen, according to an email copy obtained by The Times. “Given that we expect more than 500 detainees to go to Berlin, in addition to maintenance assistance, they may also need help in health services and psychology.”
The email does not specify when an immigrant is expected to arrive.
The influx of detainees could strain the already understood federal prison system, which has long been plagued by violence and abuse – Perhaps the most notable thing is in Dublin FCI, This is one of several facilities the bureau closed or deactivated last year.
But this may not be the only one who is specifically used for ICE use. On Wednesday, Kostelnik told Times that he had just learned that immigration officials were planning to visit a federal facility in Morgantown (also a target for closure) for an assessment similar to Dublin.
“It’s extremely frustrating to see the facilities that they’ve worked from them for so long and handed it over to another agency,” Costelnik told the Times.
