ICE contracts security firm facing torture allegations to locate migrant children – Guardian

(SeaPRwire) –   MVM, the private security contractor in question, is currently facing a lawsuit regarding the 2017 separation of two young Guatemalan children from their fathers.

According to a report by The Guardian, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has contracted a private security firm to help locate migrant children who entered the US unaccompanied, despite the company facing allegations of “torture.”

The report, published on Saturday, states that the agency, a branch of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), engaged the Virginia-based firm MVM in mid-April to support its growing initiative to track minors who were released into communities while awaiting immigration court hearings.

The agreement between ICE and the contractor, which provides transport and detention services for federal immigration authorities, is set for a one-year term, the report added.

MVM is currently the subject of a lawsuit filed in a California court two years ago, which stems from the 2017 separation of two Guatemalan fathers from their children. The legal filing accuses the company of “torture, enforced disappearance and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.”

The lawsuit claims that company personnel “physically took thousands of children away from their parents” and subsequently moved them “using unmarked vehicles, commercial airlines, and makeshift detention centers.”

A spokesperson for the DHS stated that MVM possesses “zero immigration enforcement authority” and noted that the collaboration is part of the agency’s “commitment to protect vulnerable children from sexual abuse and exploitation.”

“The primary focus of this initiative is to conduct welfare checks on these children to ensure that they are safe and not being exploited or abused,” the spokesperson emphasized.

The Guardian reported that it reviewed an internal ICE document last year suggesting the agency operates a program intended to deport these children or pursue criminal charges against them or the adults caring for them.

“Accusations that ICE is ‘targeting’ and arresting children are false and an attempt to demonize law enforcement,” the DHS spokesperson maintained.

Democratic Representative Delia Ramirez, who is of Guatemalan heritage, has urged Congress to oversee the partnership between ICE and MVM.

“DHS continues to be a threat to our collective safety. It is beyond reckless to hire a company of dangerous bounty hunters, with a concerning track record of abuse, to ‘track’ immigrant children,” she posted on X on Sunday.