What care looks like in immigration detention

CALEXICO, Calif. (KYMA) - For people held at the Imperial Regional Detention Facility, life can be filled with uncertainty. But for some, support can come in unexpected ways.

Daniel Rosenberg, a former rabbi and volunteer spiritual advisor, has spent more than a decade meeting with people detained at the facility and providing spiritual guidance.

He says sometimes that support is as simple as sitting down and having a conversation.

Recently, women detained at the facility also made and donated 100 handmade blankets to children at the Betty Jo McNeece Receiving Home in El Centro.

Those acts of support are one part of a larger question about what care looks like inside immigration detention.

The facility is operated by Management and Training Corporation, or MTC, under contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. MTC says the facility operates under ICE's Performance-Based National Detention Standards, which cover areas including medical and mental health care, safety, sanitation, food service and emergency response.

MTC says ICE personnel provide daily, on-site oversight of facility operations and that when a medical emergency occurs, trained staff begin an immediate response. If someone needs a higher level of care, staff coordinate with emergency responders and arrange transportation to a hospital.

For Rosenberg, though, care is about more than policies and procedures. He says human connection can help people maintain hope during some of the most difficult moments of their lives.