Wyatt board votes to suspend ICE contract

April 5, 2019 11:55 pm

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. (WLNE) — The Wyatt Detention Facility board voted unanimously Friday to temporarily suspend the prison’s contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for 90 days.

Board chairman Joseph Molina Flynn, who was newly appointed by the mayor, says during that 90-day period the board will vet the warden’s original decision to house ICE detainees.

“So we should receive a report from the warden regarding all of the issues I pointed out – access to legal care, access to medical care, access to mental health care,” said Molina Flynn. “And all of those things that are so important to make sure people are safe when they’re being housed at the Wyatt.”

The former Mayor of Central Falls, Thomas Lazieh, says the Wyatt facility already meets those standards.

“This facility is fully accredited,” Lazieh said. “This facility does have translators on staff. It has medical staff on staff. It has interpreters. It has access to legal. So I was a little perplexed at the comments made by the new chairman — who has been serving for less than an hour – that the facility doesn’t meet those standards.”

Members of the city council say the suspension is a good start.

“But then again, it doesn’t fix the issue,” said city councilwoman Jessica Vega. “This is a band–aid solution. This country has a long way to go when it comes to immigration form – I feel like I’m going to cry – but it is bittersweet. We don’t know what’s going to happen to them from here, and we need to treat these people like human beings.”

The board says the facility her has seven days to remove detainees and send them back to the southern border.