Article: ICE Visitation Ban
Source: Daily News

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_23804812/ice-visitation-ban-prompts-protests

Groups protest ICE visitation ban ICE: Government agency suspends program allowing visits to detainees held in Adelanto ACLU: Civil-rights group has sent a letter requesting reinstatement of visitation privileges Beau Yarbrough, Staff Writer Posted:   08/06/2013 10:55:37 AM PDT Updated:   08/06/2013 10:38:59 PM PDT Jim Yarbrough, 62, of Newberry Park was one of several dozen people at a Friends of Adelanto Detainees rally across the street from Adelanto Detention Center on Tuesday. The federal government has cut off the group's visits to people being held at the jail. (Rachel Luna/Staff Photographer) Photo gallery: Groups protest ICE visitation ban ADELANTO -- More than 50 people and civil-rights groups from across Southern California on Tuesday protested the suspension of visits by a support group for immigrant detainees held at a facility here. Victoria Mena of Adelanto had been visiting prisoners since July 15. But on July 24, Mena received an email from Wesley J. Lee, assistant field office director for Adelanto Detention Facility, saying: "The Friends of Adelanto (Detainees) Program has been suspended until further notice. Please let your participants know as they will not be able to access Adelanto detainees." That inspired today's protest. "Adelanto is far away from everywhere," Mena said. "I've talked to one kid who's 19 years old, and he said he's been there three months and hasn't seen anyone." The isolation, atop already tense legal situations, is hard on the detainees, she said: "We see a lot of people who've been traumatized by the system or who are in really dark places because they're so alone and so isolated." Jan Meslin, coordinator of a similar group for Orange County, said ICE officials told her it could not post sign-up sheets for new detainees, but members of Friends of Orange County Detainees are still able to visit about 40 people detained in Orange County Jail. Meslin was among those at the rally across Rancho Road from the detention facility. Speakers from the two "Friends" groups said visitations are crucial to detainees who may be thousands of miles away from family and friends. Detainees who fight deportation may be held for eight months or more as they go through the appeals process. "We've Lyzzeth Mendoza, 24, of Rialto joined the rally. Immigration and Customs Enforcement suspended visits by related groups to three Southern California facilities. The government has not explained the reason for the halt. (Rachel Luna/Staff Photographer) had people we've visited who are claiming political asylum, because their family was slaughtered back in Nigeria," Mena said Tuesday morning. Many of those detained there rarely see visitors or anyone who's not a detainee, a detention center employee or an ICE official. In a statement Tuesday through a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman, the government confirmed the suspension of the program and that 35 volunteers with the Adelanto group had been denied access. "ICE officials are conducting further review of the Friends of Adelanto Detainees program and plan ongoing discussions with the group's leadership on how the program can be most beneficial to those in ICE custody," according to the statement. But it was less clear from the government as to why the visits were stopped. On Tuesday, the ACLU of Southern California and the Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC) -- a national group that aims to end abuse of immigrant detainees -- sent two letters to ICE asking for the visitation programs at three detention centers in Southern California, including Adelanto, to be reinstated. According to the ACLU, the programs were "abruptly suspended" on July 24, after Christina Fialho, co-executive director of CIVIC, published a blog post on the Huffington Post criticizing ICE's treatment of gay detainees. According to the ACLU, the government suspended the programs because of the post and volunteer posts in social media critical of conditions. Luis Nolasco, 22, from Guadalajara, Mexico, said he spent time in a north Georgia facility, including in solitary confinement. "If I would have had one visitor, it would have made all the difference," said Nolasco, who is still appealing his deportation. "It's not a country club," Mena said, of the Adelanto facility. "They're still being separated from their family, they're still being held against their will. These are people."