“He was 42 years old, married, white guard. She’s a 19-year-old asylum seeker with a 3-year-old.” In 2014, E.D. and her son awaited asylum at Berks, a family detention facility contracted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, known as ICE. “Her life experience is one in Honduras of being brutally beaten and raped by her partner. But she was also in this Berks County facility that is purported to provide a safe space for these families while they go through the immigration process.” “He had been giving them favors, given her little boy toys and candy. And he had told her that, you know, he could help her out and that he was friends with the deportation officer.” “I did have feelings for her. I mean, I liked her. I wasn’t having — my home life wasn’t as great, so it was nice to have somebody, you know, that would give me attention.” Early on, Sharkey told his supervisors that E.D. was flirting with him. According to case records, instead of transferring Sharkey, the supervisor told him to keep his distance and immediately report if anything else transpired. “It was a friendly relationship at that time. That’s how it was. And then it just kind of snowballed from there.” “Me being in a power position, and her being kind of like, you know, being a resident there, she was never — I mean — I never threatened her or anything like that. I never said any of those words to her to make her, make her think that.” “This is a hallway that everyone walks by. Guards walk by. It’s by the administrative wing. What we found out through the words of Daniel Sharkey is they all knew.” Another detainee also knew. According to her deposition, Sharkey asked her to keep watch and propositioned her for sex. Like E.D., several thousand immigrants have claimed sexual abuse in detention over the last decade. Currently, there are nearly 42,000 immigrants in detention on any given day. President Trump has already proposed expanding detention capacity for 2019, a plan that could lead to a 50 percent increase of the daily population since he took office. His new executive order ends family separation, but expands family detention, leading to an even larger population of immigrants held in federal custody. “Any time you have a particularly vulnerable population being detained in a confined space, that creates a potential for abuse.” “Many of these women have never been in a detention facility. They didn’t commit a crime. This is all new, to be in a facility where they’re actually treated as a prisoner.” “In the case of women, the majority of those in immigration detention are seeking asylum, and, in fact, are usually fleeing violence.” Ultimately, it was an 8-year-old girl’s eyewitness account that led to an investigation. Sharkey was fired from Berks. He later pleaded guilty to institutional sexual assault. “I do not believe there’s a culture of abuse. For the past six years, it’s been less than 1 percent of our population has reported an incident.” ICE recorded over 1,300 allegations of sexual abuse and sexual assault against detainees from fiscal years 2013 through 2017. Of these cases, ICE deemed more than half of them inconclusive. “Well, it’s certainly not in their self-interest to have cases of sexual abuse and assault confirmed.” Kevin Landy ran the office responsible for reforming ICE’s policies on sexual abuse under President Obama. That office was closed on the second day of the Trump Administration. ICE says the personnel from that office were incorporated under another division. “Written policies that the agency has on responding to allegations of sexual abuse and assault are very comprehensive. But the reality on the ground is that there are still some serious flaws and challenges in how those policies are being implemented.” There’s a network of over 200 facilities that ICE currently uses to detain immigrants. These range from facilities run by private prison companies dedicated exclusively to immigration detention, to federal prisons and contracted county jails that host both inmates and immigrant detainees. “The investigations that ICE has in place right now to keep tabs on all of the many facilities it oversees are not adequate. It’s often like — almost like a rubber stamp. You see facilities passing their inspections with flying colors year in and year out.” Megan Mack was tasked with investigating complaints and filing reports on abuses for all of D.H.S., including ICE, under the Obama Administration. “Often we would go to a facility and do an investigation, and then years would go by without the complaints being addressed.” Maria sought asylum in the United States after fleeing violence in Guatemala. She spent over a month in an immigration detention center. She was permitted to leave the facility in 2010 while her case was pending. The man Maria is referring to is Donald Dunn. He was a guard at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Texas, where Maria was held. One of Dunn’s jobs was to transport detainees. “When he let her out of the van at the Austin airport, she ran. The guard there at the airport asked her what was wrong and she immediately told him what had happened.” ICE policy mandates that detainees be transferred with at least one guard of the same sex. But according to case records, Hutto violated that order 77 times in less than a year, allowing male guards, including Dunn, to transport women alone. Ultimately, eight women testified in a civil suit. “Probably there were many more, because these were the women who could be tracked down and who were willing to speak.” Donald Dunn served less than two years on charges arising from his assault on multiple women. The Hutto detention center has recently been investigated by the F.B.I. for other claims of sexual abuse committed by guards. And in June, a civil rights group lodged new complaints accusing guards of masturbating in front of female detainees and forcing them into sex acts. Immigrant detention in all its forms is expanding under the Trump Administration. ICE is looking into options for an additional 15,000 beds to detain parents and their children. Families aside, Trump’s “zero-tolerance policy” has taxed an already overwhelmed system. As policies continue to change, and the administration faces legal obstacles, the path forward is unclear. Meanwhile, those in detention remain vulnerable to abuse.