section_path: Harm to non-citizens without legal status/Criticisms of ICE Detention
section_name: Criticisms of ICE Detention
paragraph_text: Criticisms of ICE Detention
  
  With deportation as a tool of the US government against illegal immigrants, practices by immigration authorities have drawn the ire of the public and activists—about detention facilities and deportations. In the act of detaining illegal aliens, ICE has come under scrutiny for its practices of separating families. In addition, ICE has been wrongfully assessing ages of unaccompanied children. The Department of Homeland Security rely on dental radiograph tests to ascertain the ages of those in custody. But these tests only determine an age range, often encompassing both minor and adult ages, resulting in many minors being placed in adult prisons. "This American Life" has reported on one wrongfully detained migrant arriving from Cambodia to meet her finance, whose dental tests said she was a minor. ICE tests to determine ages of detained migrants have proven at best faulty—and at worst unscientific.
  
  Additionally, activists and immigrant advocates have criticized the role of private prison companies in dealing with the detention of illegal immigrants. Reports have detailed people in ICE custody being forced to work for nothing or a dollar-a-day cooking, doing laundry, and other essential tasks for these prisons. In late December 2017, the US Civil Rights Commission called on Congress and the Department of Homeland Security to investigate abusive labor practices of these private prisons, including other reports saying detainees had been paid less than a dollar a day in the facilities "Voluntary Work Program." In the report, the Commission specifically cited private prisons as a main concern, given the financial benefit of low-paid labor being used to "maximize profits."