WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced Thursday that it will stop using immigration detention facilities in Massachusetts and Georgia that are the subject of abuse allegations.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said federal authorities will no longer use the jail in Bristol County, Massachusetts, and the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia.
The Massachusetts jail has been accused of overcrowding and overall inhumane conditions. Women held at the facility in Georgia reported being subjected to medical procedures against their will, including hysterectomies.
Those allegations are the subject of ongoing federal investigations.
“Allow me to state one foundational principle: We will not tolerate the mistreatment of individuals in civil immigration detention or substandard conditions of detention,” Mayorkas said in announcing the decision.
Both were run under contract for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
DHS is ending its agreement with the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office to run the jail facility in Massachusetts.
Mayorkas said authorities will preserve evidence for the investigations as they transfer immigration detainees out of the privately run facility in Georgia.
