Originally published in the Winter/Spring 2025 edition of the Virginia Defender, issue 76, printed March 26. Reproduced here for accessibility and archival purposes. To find other stories in the Winter/Spring 2025 issue or to download the full PDF, see this post. For other issues dating back to 2012, see the Full Issues page.

Staff Report

A northern Virginia-based company contracted by the federal government to run the immigrant detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is coming under intense scrutiny for its alleged abuse at other immigrant centers.

Akima Infrastructure Protection, a subsidiary of the Akima corporation with headquarters in Herndon, “… counts among its myriad federal contracts immigration detention facilities across the United States, including some that are currently under investigation for human rights abuses.” (Democracy Now! – Feb. 25, 2025)

“A federal audit of the Miami facility operated by an Akima subsidiary, for example, reported multiple instances of ‘inappropriate use of force,’ including an incident where guards pepper-sprayed a detainee in solitary confinement without provocation, The Guardian reports. A separate civil rights complaint alleged that Akima staff retaliated against hunger-striking detainees in a Buffalo facility through physical force and solitary confinement.” (Latin Times, Feb. 22, 2025)

Last August, the Biden administration awarded Akima a $163.4 million contract to run the Guantanamo facility through 2029.

On Feb. 23, the U.S. military transported 17 immigrant detainees to the military base on land it occupies in Cuba. The Trump administration says it wants to hold some 30,000 immigrants there in tent camps. That plan was halted over concerns the makeshift facilities do not meet ICE’s detention standards and after the ACLU filed a lawsuit alleging detainees were being denied access to families, attorneys or due process.

According to a report in USA Today, a bipartisan delegation from Congress plans to travel to Guantanamo to inspect the detention camp.

The Guantanamo Bay military base, also known as Gitmo, is notorious for its treatment of prisoners arrested after the attacks of 9/11. Holding immigrant detainees there, some of whom are accused of nothing more than illegally entering the U.S. – a civil, not a criminal violation – seems to be aimed at terrifying other migrants into not coming to the U.S., no matter how horrific the conditions may be in their own countries.

Akima’s website describes itself as a worldwide company with 10,000 employees that last year ranked 29th on the government’s list of 100 top government contractors.

Akima is based at 2553 Dulles View Drive, Suite 700, Herndon, VA 20171. (Phone: 571.323.5200; web: Akima.com.)