In 2006, the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General found serious health and safety concerns at immigrant detention facilities and that detainees' requests for medical attention were often ignored.

In this video, a young woman from Pakistan who was detained by the Department of Homeland Security for nearly two years while she sought refugee protection in the United States describes her experience being locked up with violent inmates and trying to access medical care. When she discovered a lump in her shoulder, a jail nurse told her "it's just a fatty tumor" and the government refused her request to see a doctor to have it checked out.