The U.S immigration detention system suffers from a host of systemic failures that create "monumental barriers" for detained immigrants seeking legal representation, rendering their right to counsel "essentially meaningless," the American Civil Liberties Union said in a report released Thursday.

The 40-page report, titled "No Fighting Chance," found that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's immigrant detention facilities "have systematically restricted the most basic modes of communication" detained immigrants need to be able to connect with lawyers and the outside world.

Detained immigrants face major access challenges, including a lack of private space, an inability to schedule phone calls and meetings with lawyers, and indefinite bans on in-person visits, according to the report. The failures reflect an immigration detention system that "is fundamentally flawed, causes needless suffering, and is marked by widespread abuse," it said.

The ACLU report examined conditions at 173 of ICE's 199 publicly listed detention centers through phone surveys of their staff and written responses from 89 immigration attorneys and legal representatives. The report notes, however, that researchers couldn't get information on more than 40 of the facilities because either staff didn't answer any questions or because no one answered the phone.

"ICE's failure to provide a working, responsive facility phone number at these detention facilities is a prime example of the many types of challenges that attorneys, and the general public, face when attempting to communicate with people in ICE custody," the ACLU's report said.

For instance, at least 58 facilities do not allow attorneys to schedule phone calls with their detained clients, according to the report. And scheduling a phone call doesn't guarantee it will actually take place, as nearly half of the facilities that allow scheduled calls do not consistently honor those schedules, the report said.

Detainees' telephone access is also inadequate in general, according to the report. For example, they face poor audio quality in more than half of the facilities for which attorneys submitted survey answers, and many have phones that don't work, the report said.

They're also required to pay to make a phone call at nearly 85% of ICE's detention facilities, with some charging prohibitively high rates that can range from 21 cents to as high as 40 cents per minute, according to the report. And that's "by design," because facility operators commonly receive their phone services by entering contracts with private companies that "have lengthy histories of predatory business practices," the report said.

"These rates are especially burdensome given that many detained immigrants are indigent and can make only $1 per day under ICE's 'Voluntary Work Program,' and because in many facilities, detained immigrants must use the money in their accounts for basic food and hygiene items purchasable through the prison/jail commissary," it said.

In-person visits are also prohibited at 11 of the detention facilities, despite the assertion on ICE's website that such visits remain available at a legal representative's request despite the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the report. Nine of those facilities attributed the prohibition to the pandemic, but the other two simply stated visits were either not allowed or "suspended indefinitely," the report said.

It's also unclear how many detention facilities provide legal videoconferencing, according to the ACLU report. That's largely because only 12 of the 68 facilities that reported having such capabilities had information available on ICE's website, while 23 facilities' videoconferencing abilities couldn't be verified and ICE's website had "no information at all" for 33 facilities.

"Notably, four of the 15 facilities that ICE has designated as having Virtual Attorney Visitation programs were unaware of the existence of the program upon inquiry by phone," the report said.

Conditions could improve if the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ensured proper oversaw detainees' access to attorneys, or if the detention system got phased out in favor of more community-based alternatives, the report said. Congress could also help by dramatically reducing its funding for immigration detention and enforcement, passing legislation that ensures detained immigrants' access to free and confidential calls with lawyers, and requiring ICE to collect and publicly report data regarding detainees' access to counsel, the report said.

Representatives for ICE didn't immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment.

--Editing by Adam LoBelia.