A 23-year-old was bounced from Florida, to Louisiana, to California and back before being transferred to Honolulu — a nearly 5,000-mile journey in total. Another man was released on bond in Honolulu, in an unfamiliar place with no one to help him return to California. Both men, and likely dozens more, were held at the Honolulu Federal Detention Center after being transferred from the continental United States by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE has been transferring detained immigrants from the continental U.S. to the Honolulu Federal Detention Center since this summer. Local immigration attorneys are facing unprecedented case loads and told HPR they are concerned that people may be falling through the cracks without adequate legal representation.
ACLU Hawaiʻi Immigration Rights Attorney Leilani Stacy has been working with other immigration attorneys, clients and community groups on the ground to try to understand why people are being transferred from the continental U.S. to the Honolulu Federal Detention Center.
“ The hard part is there's no public access to information about how many detainees are at FDC in any given moment, let alone how many of those are being transferred from the continent,” she said.
“It's not exactly clear to us or to anyone, really, as to the rhyme or reason why someone from California or Florida would be transferred here, particularly when they have no connection here.”
Immigrants detained by ICE bounced between states
Neribel Chardon, a senior staff attorney with the Hawaiʻi nonprofit The Legal Clinic, recently represented a 23-year-old client. He was bounced between Florida, Louisiana, California, and Hawaiʻi — all within a month.
His mother had a hard time reaching him, and he lost his legal representation when he was transferred to the Honolulu FDC.
“The mom was able to get some help from a legal worker in California, but because their funds are only for California residents, they can no longer represent or help this person,” Chardon said.
That separation from resources and support, Hawai‘i’s geographic isolation and lack of Spanish-speaking attorneys are some of Stacy's main concerns about the transfers.
“In some ways, the transfer here to FDC Honolulu is just part of that larger game that's being played. And I shouldn't call it a game. These are people's lives,” she said.
“When you send people across an ocean who might not speak English as their first language, who know no one on the ground, no family to come visit them and tell them, 'these are the local attorneys', or anything like that. It's a really big concern.”
That's what happened to Joaquin Rico, a Venezuelan national who entered the U.S. unlawfully three-and-a-half years ago. He lived in California. He worked in construction. He owned a car and sent money back to his sick father.
In July, ICE detained him and brought him to San Francisco. Three days later, he was transferred to the Honolulu FDC and was held there for about three months.
Rico's primary language is Spanish. Through an interpreter, he described his experience in the Honolulu FDC. He had never been in prison before, but he said he was placed in the general population of incarcerated people, among those awaiting charges for federal crimes, including murder.
“I wasn't told why, if I was detained in California, why I was transferred to Hawaiʻi,” Rico said. The only thing that made sense to him, he added, is that the transfer was a tactic to tire him out and agree to self-deport.
Rico estimates there were 100 other people detained there on immigration-related matters, and 10 or 15 people like him who were separated from their communities in California and transferred to Hawaiʻi.
When Rico was released from the Honolulu Federal Detention Center, his phone had died, and he was in an unfamiliar place with no support system. Getting back was “an odyssey,” he said. The relief he felt at being released was soured by worry — “of not knowing anyone there, of not having anything,” he said.
Although Rico was released on bond, that isn't the outcome for many others detained by ICE in the Honolulu Federal Detention Center.
Hawaiʻi's limited number of immigration lawyers manage an escalation of cases
Although those in federal immigration court have the right to legal representation, there is no equivalent to a public defender or court-appointed attorney. Because of that, there are limited options for detained immigrants. The Legal Clinic estimates that there are 12 nonprofit immigration attorneys in the state, and only six represent clients regularly.
Chardon is one of about three nonprofit immigration attorneys in the state who speak Spanish. Up to 90% of The Legal Clinic's immigration clients are Hispanic. She explained that these detentions are an escalation beyond anything she's seen before.
“From 2019 to 2023, when I was in private practice, I only represented two people in detention,” she said.
“Now the federal detention center is my second home.”
When she goes, she can sometimes see between four and six clients in one day. Once, she saw eight.
Chardon has had a hard time even locating those in need of legal representation. She has fielded calls from concerned family members of detained immigrants, asking if they are being held at the FDC. She described looking through the immigration court website for each judge and taking notes to find people who do not have legal representation. The Legal Clinic will assign staff members to monitor hearings and take notes on people's alien numbers, the unique ID for non-citizens in the U.S.
“ Then we try to locate that person, and then I will go if it's a Spanish speaker,” Chardon said.
“ Our perspective is just to identify people that we need to go and talk to.”
Why are immigrants detained on the continental U.S. being sent to Hawaiʻi?
To address the higher volume of immigrants being arrested under the second Trump administration, ICE began working with federal detention facilities across the country to increase its capacity to hold detainees.
In the past, the Honolulu Federal Detention Center has been considered underused, barely filling a quarter of its capacity to hold those who are charged with federal crimes. However, this year, it became one of eight facilities in the country managed by the federal Bureau of Prisons that accepts those detained by ICE.
A Bureau of Prisons spokesperson wrote in an email that they do not comment on the status of individuals or estimate the number of detainees in their facilities. ICE did not respond to HPR's requests for information.
However, the Refugee & Immigration Law Clinic at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law estimates that between 40 and 80 immigrants are currently being detained in the Honolulu Federal Detention Center.
“The preferred reason is capacity," Chardon said. But, the farther away a person is transferred, the harder it is for them to have access to an attorney. According to Chardon, that increases the likelihood that they’ll say, “I cannot stand this anymore. I just want to leave.”
Chardon worried that some immigrants transferred to the Honolulu FDC could be falling into a "black hole" -- their families don't know where they are, they can't communicate with the outside world, and they don't have legal representation. She sees her work as vital.
“If not me, then who?” she asked.
“We are the only ones — us in the nonprofit world. So that will drive you, that will motivate you and that will give you strength.”
State lawmakers do not have authority over the federal facility. While the federal government was shut down, members of Congress were not allowed to visit.
After the shutdown ended, Congresswoman Jill Tokuda said she is planning her third visit to the facility, where she will check on the status of whether the facility has started separating those detained by ICE from the general population.
Hawaiʻi Public Radio exists to serve all of Hawai’i, and it’s the people of Hawai’i who keep us independent and strong. Help keep us strong to serve you in the future. Donate today.
