Network Dialogue Examines Human Rights Violations in U.S. Immigration Detention

August 28, 2026

By: Natalia Betancourt

On August 27, the Holistic Immigration Hub at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Kino Border Initiative (KBI), and the Jesuit Network with Migrants in the Americas (RJM Americas) convened the first Network Dialogue, titled “Documenting Human Rights Violations in U.S. Immigration Detention.”

The event centered on a submission prepared by the Holistic Immigration Hub and Kino Border Initiative for United Nations human rights mechanisms. Based on testimonies from people deported from the United States, the report documents how migrants held in U.S. immigration detention (including people with disabilities and those whose health conditions are worsened in custody) experience cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment that may, in the most serious cases, meet the definition of torture under international law.

Panelists emphasized that the documented abuses should not be viewed as isolated incidents. Rather, the testimonies point to recurring patterns of conduct that are inconsistent with the U.N. Convention against Torture and other international human rights obligations.

The report examines the elements used to assess torture: severe pain or suffering, intent, a prohibited purpose (such as punishment, intimidation, coercion, or discrimination) and involvement by the State, whether directly or through consent or acquiescence.

Survivors described inadequate or denied medical care, lack of adequate food and potable water, sleep deprivation, solitary confinement, and incidents of physical abuse. The report argues that these practices cannot be treated merely as administrative shortcomings. When authorities deny care or basic necessities despite known and urgent needs, those omissions may demonstrate a deliberate disregard for migrants’ suffering and a willingness to cause harm.

The discussion also addressed the coercive use of “voluntary departure” agreements. Testimonies describe people being pressured to sign such agreements in order to escape degrading detention conditions or gain access to basic medical care. When the alternative is continued confinement in inhumane conditions, a decision to relinquish legal rights or abandon an immigration case cannot be considered genuinely voluntary. The report identifies this pattern as a form of coercion intended to accelerate deportations.

Panelists further emphasized the State’s continuing responsibility. While many immigration detention facilities are operated by private contractors, those companies act under federal contracts and government authority. The U.S. government remains responsible for preventing abuse and ensuring accountability for actions and omissions by those acting on its behalf.

A second central theme was the impact of detention on migrants with disabilities and on people who acquire or experience worsening health conditions while detained. The report proposes the term “intentional disabling” to describe physical and psychological disabilities that are created, intensified, or prolonged through detention conditions and the denial of medical care.

The concept brings together existing legal principles, including causing serious bodily or mental harm under Article 6 of the Rome Statute, as well as grave bodily harm and permanent disability as used in jurisprudence related to the Convention against Torture. It highlights how denial of essential medication and medical care, family separation, solitary confinement, and degrading conditions of confinement violate bodily autonomy and can create new disabilities or aggravate preexisting ones.

The report was submitted to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. The submission seeks to document and name what is occurring inside detention facilities at a time when the United States has weakened or dismantled domestic offices charged with protecting civil and human rights.

By bringing the evidence to U.N. mechanisms, the organizations seek international scrutiny, greater accountability by the U.S. government, and policy and legal reforms that prevent these harms and make meaningful remedies available to survivors.

For several years, RJM Americas has warned that migration-governance policies are creating torture environments that expose forcibly displaced migrants to inhumane and other serious harms during transit, in destination countries, and in situations of forced return. This Network Dialogue underscores the importance of collaboration between organizations with different but complementary roles: sociopastoral and humanitarian accompaniment, academic research, and legal advocacy. Together, these efforts can document violations, make them visible, and advance concrete proposals to ensure that such forms of torture do not continue.

We thank Juan Cuéllar of Kino Border Initiative; Katherine Walts and Anna Patton of the Holistic Immigration Hub at Loyola University Chicago School of Law; Jorge Rodríguez of the UCA Human Rights Institute; and Yoselyn Pérez of Fordham University for making this first Network Dialogue possible.

We invite you to read the full report and share it:  https://www.kinoborderinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Input_UN_FINAL_July1_Kino_LoyolaHIH.pdf   

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