ICE is Sexually Assaulting Detainees
Immigration is a feminist issue.
Image from: Customs and Border Protection
Between the horrors of the released Epstein files, a war on Iran, and AI on the rise, we’re becoming incredibly desensitized to our reality. One of the atrocities taking place is falling through the cracks in the eyes of the public: ICE is sexually assaulting detainees. I have seen little to no coverage on these crimes, even by feminist organizations and publications.
I’m asking you to divert your attention to the survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of ICE. Do not look away, do not let their stories continue to go untold.
“Immigration is a feminist issue. Women and their children comprise approximately three-quarters of people migrating to the United States each year. Seventy percent of immigrant women attain legal status through a family-based visa, but the backlog is so severe that about four million people are currently waiting to be reunited with their families — some have already waited decades. Moreover, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender immigrants are not allowed to sponsor their partners or children for residency despite raising children and owning homes together.” - The National Organization for Women
Sexual abuse has been used as a form of punishment and torture for centuries. When related to inmates, sexual assault of any kind is considered cruel and unusual punishment and is a violation of inmates’ Eighth Amendment right. However, ICE detainees are treated differently and afforded different rights; making loopholes easy to exploit.
Since being in the United States without authorization is most often a civil offense instead of a criminal offense, detainees are exempt from Constitutional Rights, including the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, including sexual assault. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, “The act of being present in the United States in violation of the immigration laws is not, standing alone, a crime. While federal immigration law does criminalize some actions that may be related to undocumented presence in the United States, undocumented presence alone is not a violation of federal criminal law. Thus, many believe that the term ‘illegal alien,’ which may suggest a criminal violation, is inaccurate or misleading. Entering the United States without being inspected and admitted, i.e., illegal entry, is a misdemeanor or can be a felony, depending on the circumstances.” Below is a breakdown of immigration offenses:
Overstaying a visa, which accounts for over 40% of undocumented individuals, is a violation of federal immigration law. This is a civil offense, not a criminal one.
Crossing the border without inspection is a misdemeanor (8 U.S.C. § 1325).
Reentering the U.S. after being previously removed is a felony (8 U.S.C. § 1326).
This means that over 40% of undocumented individuals who are held in ICE detention centers are not afforded all Constitutional Rights, including the Eighth Amendment. According to the Supreme Court via City of Revere v. Mass. Gen. Hosp., 463 U.S. 239, 244 (1983), individuals in immigration detention are not awarded Eighth Amendment protections to argue the conditions of their confinement because they haven’t been formally declared guilty of a crime, so ICE incarceration to assist their deportation is not considered a punishment. This loophole has allowed detainees to be held in concentration camp-like facilities with individuals sleeping on the floor, denied medical care, and given a single glass of water and cup of rice per day. Thirty-two individuals died while in ICE custody in 2025, making it the deadliest year for those in ICE custody in over 20 years.
According to ACLU, “The Prison Rape Elimination Act was passed by Congress in 2003 to protect against sexual assault in prisons and jails across the country. It took the Department of Homeland Security until 2014 to finalize regulations implementing PREA. Even with those regulations in place, DHS PREA standards do not protect immigrants in all detention facilities because the agency has taken the position that those requirements can only apply when the agency enters into new contracts or renews or modifies old ones.” This allowed thousands of undocumented individuals in ICE custody to suffer sexual abuse at the hands of officers and agents before PREA was passed. However, conditions have seldom improved since the act’s implementation.
At least three former ICE employees have been arrested for sexually abusing migrant children, according to AZ Central. One was convicted, and one of the facilities was closed down following allegations of staff abusing children. According to PBS, hundreds of immigrants have reported sexual abuse at ICE facilities with little to no consequences reaching federal agents.
According to RAINN, nearly every minute, someone in the United States is sexually assaulted. A 2018 investigation by The Intercept into sexual abuse in immigration detention found that there were 1,448 allegations of sexual abuse filed with ICE between 2012 and March 2018. In 2017 alone, there were 237 allegations of sexual abuse in immigration detention facilities — accounts previous to Trump’s second term. With the massive rise in ICE detainees since Trump’s reinstatement, we can only imagine the number of victims has skyrocketed. According to The New York Times, compared to previous administrations, “The Trump administration has deported about 540,000 people. This is fewer than in either of the last two years of the Biden administration. But Biden-era deportations mostly came at the border, where migration has nearly stopped. Trump’s arrests target people already inside the country. The administration has removed about 230,000 of them, already more than the Biden administration did in four years.”
As of this month, it has also been reported that ICE is denying menstruating detainees sanitary pads and other necessary hygiene products. According to 19th News, “Currently and formerly incarcerated menstruating people have described prison pads as ‘not much more than a panty liner,’ as one woman told 19th news last year. Some need to use six pads at a time to prevent leakage. Others are forced to either bleed through their clothing or make their own tampons out of whatever they can get their hands on: toilet paper, dirty rags or even filling from their mattresses, said Miriam Vishniac, the founder and director of the Prison Flow Project, a database focused on access to menstrual products in U.S. prisons.” Confirmed in an article by Truth Out, these conditions remain the same or worsen within ICE custody. Menstruating ICE detainees are forced to sit in blood-soaked clothing for hours.
The kidnappings of our neighbors, especially female-identifying, is a feminist issue. Families separated, detainees sexually abused, and protestors killed in the street — and we’re barely one year into this administration. I am scared for my community and the people I love. I am scared for myself (a white, American-born woman) when I attend protests and speak out online.
No one is illegal on stolen land. Immigrants make America great. I trust my neighbors far more than I trust our government, regardless of where they’re from.
ICE is Gestapo.