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ACLU Disturbed by Detainee Treatment at Otay Immigration Center

The ACLU says a report on poor conditions at immigration detention centers in San Diego, New Jersey, Florida and Pennsylvania does not go far enough. The ACLU says the Otay Mesa facility is worse than

ACLU Disturbed by Detainee Treatment at Otay Immigration Center

The ACLU says a report on poor conditions at immigration detention centers in San Diego, New Jersey, Florida and Pennsylvania does not go far enough. The ACLU says the Otay Mesa facility is worse than described. KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson has details.

San Diego ACLU executive director Kevin Keenan says his organization has been hearing about problems at the Otay Mesa center for the last year-and-a-half.

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Keenan: There was at least one suicide before the auditors came that was not discussed in the report. And there were two medical related deaths after the auditors visited, but before the report was issued. And it turns out that there’s no process in place to tabulate deaths at these facilities which is shocking.

Keenan says those are just some of the problems.

The Office of Inspector General spent 10 weeks at the San Diego facility. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is in charge of the center. The agency released a written statement criticizing the OIG report.

It said results from the San Diego facility and four others should not be projected to the other 320 detention centers it runs across the country.

Amy Isackson, KPBS News.