Federal Reports

In response to concerns raised by immigrant rights groups and complaints to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) Hotline about conditions for detainees held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, we conducted unannounced inspections of five detention facilities to evaluate their compliance with ICE detention standards. We identified problems that undermine the protection of detainees’ rights, their humane treatment, and the provision of a safe and healthy environment. Although the climate and detention conditions varied among the facilities and not every problem was present at all of them, our observations, interviews with detainees and staff, and our review of documents revealed several issues. Upon entering some facilities, detainees were housed incorrectly based on their criminal history. Further, in violation of standards, all detainees entering one facility were strip searched. Available language services were not always used to facilitate communication with detainees. Some facility staff reportedly deterred detainees from filing grievances and did not thoroughly document resolution of grievances. Staff did not always treat detainees respectfully and professionally, and some facilities may have misused segregation. Finally, we observed potentially unsafe and unhealthy detention conditions.

Management and Performance Challenges Facing the Railroad Retirement Board

Our objective was to evaluate inbound international mail acceptance at U.S. Postal Service International Exchange Offices (IEOs). Inbound international mail originates in foreign countries for delivery in the U.S. and typically arrives at one of the five Postal Service International Service Centers (ISC) located in Chicago, IL; Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; New York, NY, and San Francisco, CA. Postal Service policy also lists 22 IEOs that accept international mail.

We found that FSA established policies and procedures related to the intake and discharge of borrower defense claims in 2015 and refined the claims intake policies and procedures throughout our review period. FSA also established policies and procedures related to reviewing borrower defense claims in April 2016 and introduced new policies and procedures throughout our review period. However, we identified weaknesses with FSA’s procedures for: (1) documenting the review and approval of legal memoranda establishing categories of borrower defense claims that qualified for discharge, (2) reviewing borrower defense claims, (3) processing claims approved for loan discharge and flagged for denial, and (4) establishing timeframes for claims intake, claims review, loan discharge, and claims denial processes and controls to ensure timeframes are met.