A functioning grievance system in immigration detention facilities serves as a critical check on Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and private contractors managing these centers. Designed to allow detainees to report violations of detention standards—including mistreatment, unsanitary conditions, medical neglect, and sexual assault—without fear of retaliation, this system historically represented one of the few accountability mechanisms available to people in federal custody.
According to an NPR investigation, the grievance system now operates only minimally and has become inadequate as an oversight tool. The review indicates that this breakdown coincides with the Trump administration’s dismantling of other oversight offices, further reducing checks on detention operations. Detainees and advocates report that the failure to properly implement grievance procedures has contributed to a record number of deaths in detention facilities, while also prompting detainees to pursue dangerous protest measures including hunger strikes.
The system’s dysfunction is exemplified in cases like that of a detainee identified as D.E., a Mexican national with a brain tumor who was denied seizure medication while incarcerated in a California facility. After suffering multiple seizures due to late medication delivery, D.E. attempted to file a medical grievance. His experience reflects patterns reported across the nation’s detention centers by lawmakers, immigration attorneys, advocates, and other detainees.
According to Chris Brundage, former deputy of the now-closed Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, the grievance process has never functioned as designed. The system operates as a fragmented patchwork without consistent standards across facilities. Detainees work under varying versions of detention standards depending on facility contract dates, ranging from 2011 guidelines to more recent 2019 standards. The Department of Homeland Security declined to provide specific details about grievance handling, employee training, contractor compliance verification, or the existence of mandatory grievance committees at all facilities.
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