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Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

Safeguarding civil rights and civil liberties is elemental to all the work we do at DHS.

  • Retention Memo to ICE Concerning Segregation of Individuals with a Mental Health Disability and/or Serious Mental Illness

    Over the past four years, CRCL has opened more than 60 complaints related to the segregation of individuals in ICE custody with an alleged mental health disability (MHD) or Serious Mental Illness (SMI). These allegations have arisen at different, geographically diverse, ICE detention facilities. These facilities operate under differing government agreements, a range of ICE detention standards, and further vary according to the specific provider(s) of mental health services.

    To address the various issues implicated in these allegations, CRCL identified a representative sample of seven complaints to capture the types of allegations CRCL received from Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 – FY2023. 

  • Retention Memo to ICE Concerning Florence Correctional Center

    CRCL has received allegations that ICE has violated the civil rights and civil liberties of noncitizens at the Florence Correctional Center (FCC) in Florence, Arizona.

  • Summary of CRCL Recommendation Memorandum and CBP’s Response: Cancellation of F-1 Visas of Iranian Nationals

    This is a summary of CRCL's Recommendation Memorandum to CBP expressing concerns about CBP’s cancellation of certain F-1 Visas of Iranian Nationals. CBP concurred with one of CRCL’s recommendations and partially concurred with two.

  • Retention Memo to ICE Concerning Eloy Detention Center

    The CRCL has received allegations that ICE has violated the civil rights and civil liberties of noncitizens at the Eloy Detention Center (Eloy) in Eloy, Arizona. The purpose of this memorandum is to notify ICE of the complaints and describe the allegations, inform ICE that CRCL will retain the complaints and conduct a multidisciplinary onsite investigation, and explain how CRCL will work with ICE during our investigation.

  • Environmental Justice Annual Implementation Report for Fiscal Year 2022

    DHS Directive 023-04, rev. 00, Environmental Justice, outlines OCRSO and CRCL’s roles and responsibilities, including the creation of this annual report, and establishes an internal DHS Environmental Justice Working Group.

  • Recommendation Memorandum to ICE: Onsite at Orange County Jail

    On July 18, 2023, CRCL issued ICE this memorandum providing recommendations in response to CRCL’s investigation into conditions of detention for noncitizens detained at the Orange County Jail in Goshen, New York.  CRCL’s onsite investigation occurred in October 2022, in response to complaints regarding excessive use of force, staff-noncitizen communication, and retaliation.

  • Summary of CRCL’s Recommendations and ICE’s Response: Caroline Detention Facility

    This is a summary of CRCL's Recommendation Memorandum to ICE following an onsite investigation at the Caroline Detention Facility. ICE concurred with five recommendations, partially concurred with seven, and non-concurred with seven.

  • DHS Language Access Plans

    The DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties joins its colleagues in releasing Language Access Plans for DHS Components and Offices.

  • Recommendation Memo to ICE Concerning Seneca County Jail

    CRCL conducted an investigation into conditions of detention for ICE noncitizens at the Seneca County Jail (Seneca) in Tiffin, Ohio. CRCL conducted an onsite investigation at Seneca on July 11-13, 2022 (the July 2022 onsite) with subject matter experts (SME) in medical care and mental health care participating in-person, and an environmental health and safety SME participating virtually. Due to unforeseen circumstances, CRCL’s conditions of detention expert was not able to participate in the July 2022 onsite. As a result, CRCL conducted a second virtual onsite at Seneca with its conditions of detention SME on September 28-29, 2022 (the September 2022 onsite).

  • Close Memorandum Regarding Investigation at Jackson Parish Correctional Center

    This memorandum concludes the investigation CRCL conducted into allegations related to ICE detainees at the Jackson Parish Correctional Center (Jackson Parish) in Jonesboro, Louisiana. Following a collaborative process between CRCL and ICE, CRCL is closing the complaints.