The Alaska House Judiciary Committee plans to hold a hearing June 20 on the use of Alaska Department of Corrections facilities to house and supervise federal detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The announcement comes following news of DOC holding 42 people arrested and detained by ICE from out of state over the weekend, housed at the Anchorage Correctional Complex, amid a nationwide immigration crackdown.
DOC is currently housing 39 ICE detainees, according to a department spokesperson on Friday.
Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, chair of the judiciary committee, said the goal is to gather information on the terms and conditions of detention for the state detaining people for ICE.
“It’s really more a fact-finding hearing just to make sure that we understand exactly what’s happening in a situation that, to my knowledge, hasn’t happened before,” Gray said in a phone interview Thursday.
“Some of the concerns that we have that we’re just curious to learn more about are how much contact they have with their families, with legal representation, and access to medical care,” he said. “Those sorts of things are things that we want to make sure that they have.”
The hearing is planned for June 20 at 1 p.m. at the Anchorage Legislative Information Office, and will be streamed live on the Legislature’s website and Gavel Alaska. The committee has invited officials with the Department of Corrections, Department of Law, the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska and attorneys representing several of the men to present.
Gray pointed to immigration status as a civil legal issue, and not a criminal one. “And my limited understanding of what’s happening in DOC right now with these detainees is that they are not being afforded those additional rights and freedoms that would come to someone who would be at an ICE detention facility,” he said.
ICE has not responded to multiple requests for comment, including on what criminal or civil charges are being brought against the men.
One man being held in Alaska custody, Albert Khamitov, was granted asylum by an immigration judge for “’clear evidence of state sponsored persecution’ of LGBTQ+ people in Russia,” the Seattle Times has reported. The U.S. government appealed that asylum decision and he has remained in detention while fighting the case.
Gray said he’s been speaking with several attorneys representing the men currently detained, who have raised the issue of whether they are receiving adequate translation services while in Alaska custody. Gray said he’s been told DOC staff are using Google Translate to communicate with detainees, which he said is inadequate.
“I want to hear from DOC, I want them to talk about how they’re handling this issue. But the fear is that folks have been removed to Alaska, cannot communicate with the people who are, you know, managing them, and have no way of contacting their friends and family from where they came,” he said. “I just can’t imagine what that must be like for them. So I hope that my fear is unfounded.”
DOC spokesperson Betsy Holley said Friday via email that the department is using translation services. “We have long had, and utilize professional translation services: Language Link, Language Line Services, Alaska Interpreting Alliance, and Big Language Solutions,” she said. “Additionally, we have many bilingual staff members. The facility chooses the service based on availability at the time the need arises.”
The department did not respond to requests for comment on the concerns around conditions of detention, access to communication with families and attorneys, as well as access to medical care, by Friday at 4 p.m.
Gray said he’s also concerned about the state’s risk for potential litigation around standards of detention.
“Our facilities were not designed for this. Our personnel were not trained for this,” Gray said. “My fear is that there’s going to be some very well-founded litigation about these folks being here that the state is going to have to pay for. It is not going to break even. This is going to end up costing Alaska a lot of money, is my fear.”
Questions remain around why the men were transferred to Alaska from the Tacoma ICE Detention Facility, as two men were transferred back to Washington state within one day, according to the Department of Corrections.
“There are rights that are guaranteed to people in the United States, regardless of their immigration status, a person cannot be incarcerated without knowing what the charges are against them, without the right to legal representation, without the right to defend themselves,” Gray said. “I have fear that these folks aren’t being awarded these rights as they should be, but I will reserve judgment.”
• Corinne Smith started reporting in Alaska in 2020, serving as a radio reporter for several local stations across the state including in Petersburg, Haines, Homer and Dillingham. She spent two summers covering the Bristol Bay fishing season. Originally from Oakland, California, she got her start as a reporter, then morning show producer, at KPFA Radio in Berkeley. This article originally appeared online at alaskabeacon.com. Alaska Beacon, an affiliate of States Newsroom, is an independent, nonpartisan news organization focused on connecting Alaskans to their state government.
