Former employees describe unchecked 'abuse' at Sacramento ICE facility

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Two former employees of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractor are alleging a toxic environment at the Sacramento ICE facility where the former employees say, some case specialists routinely abused and sexually harassed fellow employees and undocumented immigrants.

In sworn declarations filed in Sacramento Superior Court, Sandy Nogales and Jorge Zinzun are described as former employees of BI Incorporated, which develops electronic monitoring systems for ICE and other government agencies. Nogales said in her declaration that she worked for BI Incorporated for eight years and was in charge of the Sacramento office where some ICE contractors, “start out with good intentions, but over time, the absolute power granted them over (undocumented immigrants) makes some of them start to feel superior over the people they are monitoring.”

Nogales identified a BI Inc. employee named Luis Ruiz in her declaration as a “predator preying on the people he is supposed to be helping.” Zinzun declared under penalty of perjury that he was fired by BI Incorporated in December 2023 as retaliation after reporting Ruiz’s aggressive behavior to his superiors.

Nogales and Zinzun came forward publicly after reading in The Sacramento Bee that Ruiz and BI Incorporated were among the defendants named in an October lawsuit filed by Sacramento area undocumented woman alleging that Ruiz harassed her over the course of 18 months.

‘I felt I needed to come forward’

The declarations were filed in support of the 14-page suit in which Silvia Reyna claims that Ruiz texted her nude photos of himself and made many aggressive and unwanted advances during her mandated meetings with Ruiz at the Sacramento ICE facility between March 2023 and November 2024.

“I started paying attention to the news and I thought, ‘Wait a minute. I used to work there,” Zinzun said in an interview with The Bee. “I felt I needed to come forward, to share what I witnessed.”

In October, a representative of BI Incorporated told The Bee in a prepared statement that it has a “zero tolerance” policy against sexual harassment.

“BI takes all allegations of sexual abuse and harassment with the utmost seriousness,” said Christopher V. Ferreira, director of corporate relations for BI Incorporated, which is owned by The Geo Group Inc, according to the complaint.

In the last week, representatives of BI Incorporated have not responded to requests for comment on the allegations made by Nogales and Zinzun. Ruiz has not been reached for comment.

In his sworn declaration, Zinzun said he worked in an office next to Ruiz’s office while at BI Incorporated. Though he does not recall a specific incident of Ruiz mistreating Reyna, Zinzun said in his declaration he could hear Ruiz, “loudly verbally abusing, cursing and berating,” the undocumented people assigned to him by BI Inc.

“We were in charge of monitoring 170 to 200 participants,” Zinzun said in an interview. “We had direct contact with ICE officers, but we had a lot of independence.” Nogales states in her declaration that Ruiz was accused of sexual harassment by other BI Inc. employees before Silvia Reyna filed her lawsuit against Ruiz and BI Incorporated.

“When I read in the paper about the complaints made against Ruiz, I was not surprised,” Nogales states in her declaration. “A female employee at BI offices in Stockton complained about Ruiz. She reported that Ruiz had repeatedly sent her unwanted sexually-explicit texts and emojis about her buttocks and used sexually coded and squirting emojis to crudely proposition her, which made her very uncomfortable.”

Nogales and Zinzun both state the Geo Group, parent company of BI Incorporated, did not act on sexual harassment complaints against Ruiz and at least one other employee.

“Ruiz was allowed to continue working without having to answer for the consequences of his actions and, we were basically directed to ignore the complaint,” Nogales says in her declaration.

Hopes for an investigation

Reyna was deported to Mexico eight days after her story appeared in The Bee, even though her legal team had secured a stay of deportation so she could remain in the U.S. to continue her legal fight to establish residency. Reyna told her lawyers that she was abused by her jailers before she was deported.

Reyna, 52, is a mother of eight and raised her kids in the Tehama County town of Corning. Reyna was allowed to stay in the U.S. and surrender to ICE custody in November. She remains in ICE custody, while her family seeks justice for her.

“We had gotten a court-approved emergency stay before her removal (on Oct. 25),” Reyna’s son, Francisco Govea, a U.S. Army veteran, said to The Bee. “It’s been horrible.”

Nogales and Zinzun both expressed sympathy for Reyna and stated in their declarations that she inspired them to speak out about what they saw while working for BI Incorporated.

“I came forward...because I wanted to do the right thing,” Nogales says in her declaration.

In an interview, Zinzun said he was moved by a photo of Reyna’s family that included a photo of Govea in his Army uniform.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Zinzun said. ”Here her son served in our armed forces, and we are treating her this way?”

Israel Ramirez, a Sacramento-based lawyer representing Reyna in her lawsuit, said he hopes the declarations from Nogales and Zinzun will trigger an investigation by California’s Civil Rights Department.

“One of the saddest things about this whole affair is the way BI, Incorporated is recruiting young, bilingual, college-educated Mexican-Americans and using them to prey upon their own people,” Ramirez said. “Some of these BI Incorporated employees are the children of immigrants and I highly doubt their parents are proud of what they are doing.”

____