A nurse at a detention centre on the U.S.-Mexico border has said that migrants are being mistreated and neglected, as overworked staff struggle to cope with thousands of detainees.
Juramay Olivia has claimed that poor care at the Otay Mesa detention center led to the death of one migrant, while another suffered a seizure, one required a liver transplant, and another was left with an open wound that festered.
In court documents seen by Newsweek, Olivia alleges that bosses at CoreCivic, which manages private prisons and detention centers in the United States, bullied staff and fired her when she raised concerns. She alleges that often just two nurses were left to attend to 1,500 detainees.
Lorrie Walker, Olivia's lawyer, accused CoreCivic of "corporate greed" and "putting profits over people."
"There were so many gaps in care that the detainees that were held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center were not receiving adequate care.
"We have some reports that there was a death at the detention center that potentially could have been prevented had adequate care been provided.
"We also received information that there were some extreme medical episodes that occurred that the staff at the Otay Mesa Detention Center weren't prepared for, and our client believes that that was due to understaffing, budget cuts, and mismanagement on the executive level," she told Newsweek.
Immigration and migrant detentions have become a political football in the race for the White House, with President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump embroiled in a war of words.
In June, in an effort stop the U.S. Mexico border from becoming overwhelmed, Biden announced a sweeping new executive action that stopped migrants who cross unlawfully from receiving asylum.
Almost 400,000 people were detained and deported between Trump's implementation of Title 42 and his departure from the White House.
Biden overturned the measure in May 2023 amid claims that the measure had allowed the U.S. to expel legitimate asylum seekers.
"He's letting millions of people from jails, from prisons, from insane asylums, from mental institutions, drug dealers, pour in," Trump claimed at the time.
The court document seen by Newsweek alleges that CoreCivic failed to provide adequate medical care as required under California state law and that managers at Otay Mesa fostered a "hostile" culture and were "unprotective" of its nursing staff.
"This conduct included bullying and harassment of nurses, discouraging nurses from raising concerns about working conditions, chronic understaffing, and failing to pay employees' wages," it alleges.
Oliva worked as an administrator in charge of the nursing staff and alleges that she and her colleagues were underpaid and under-resourced.
Following her repeated complaints, Ms Oliva was ultimately terminated after raising multiple complaints with Otay Mesa bosses. The plaintiff is seeking at least $75,000 in damages.
Walker said: "She [Olivia] took it upon herself to take complaints seriously and deliver them up the chain, and because of that, we argue that she was retaliated against and ultimately terminated."Otay Mesa detention center, along with other core civic businesses, have plenty of money to adequately staff and pay their nurses, so the trickle-down care is there, and I think it's more of a corporate problem."
Walker said that other people who have worked at the Otay Mesa Detention Center reached out to her firm with similar allegations.
"We are investigating, perhaps, and bringing subsequent lawsuits against the same entities for similar allegations," she said.
Reverend Randy J. Mayer, co-founder of the Green Valley-Sahuarita Samaritans Humanitarian Group, told Newsweek: "We do talk with migrants that have been returned. And they just say: it was just humiliating, the food is really bad, and it's really cold."
Ryan Gustin, Director of Public Affairs at CoreCivic, told Newsweek: "While generally it is our policy to not comment on matters involving litigation, I can share with you that at our Otay Mesa Detention Center (OMDC), our dedicated medical staff work hard to provide immigration detainees comprehensive medical and mental health care.
"We take seriously our obligation to adhere to federal Performance Based National Detention Standards (PBNDS) in our ICE-contracted facilities, including OMDC. All our immigration facilities are monitored very closely by our government partners at ICE, and they are required to undergo regular review and audit processes to ensure an appropriate standard of living and care for all detainees."
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About the writer
Billal Rahman is a Live News reporter based in London, U.K. He specializes in foreign affairs and U.S. politics. He ... Read more
