DailyKos

Progress Illinois reported that human rights violations were being committed at the Tri-County Immigrant Detention Center in Ullin, Illinois, in the southernmost part of the state.

The main problem at Tri-County IDC is the lack of working telephones, which is the only way that detainees can communicate with their lawyers. Additionally, expensive calling cards was another major problem at Tri-County. According to Tara Tidwell Cullen of the National Immigrant Justice Center, "access to phones and lawyers is a major issue that we see system-wide, often the phones don’t work and that’s detainee’s only connection to their lawyer." Illinois's own Democratic U.S. Senator, Dick Durbin, tried to use one of the phones at Tri-County while visiting there earlier this year, but the phones were not working. The NIJC lists Tri-County as one of the 10 worst immigrant detention centers in the country, and has cited "ICE’s failure to hold the facility accountable and the ongoing human rights and due process violations" as the reason why it is calling for Tri-County to be closed.

The fact that human rights violations are being committed at immigrant detention centers all across the country is one of many reasons why comprehensive immigration reform is needed.

Link to full NIJC report on conditions at Tri-County Immigrant Detention Center