Washington, DC — The American Civil Liberties Union, Detention Watch Network, and the National Immigrant Justice Center today released a new guide for members of Congress to conduct vital in-person oversight visits of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities in their districts and states. The Trump administration is attempting to suppress and deter authorized congressional oversight of immigration detention facilities – in contravention of appropriations law that has been in place for years. Last week, Representatives Danny K. Davis, Jesús “Chuy” García, Delia C. Ramirez, and Jonathan Jackson were denied entry to the Broadview ICE facility in Chicago, Illinois. That same day, ICE released a new policy attempting to limit visits by members of Congress to ICE facilities, field offices, and jails.
The U.S. government uses immigration detention today more than at any point in history. ICE is currently detaining a record breaking 59,000 people in its custody. Trump is planning to use the reconciliation bill, currently under intense debate in the Senate, to finance the most extreme expansion of immigration detention in history to detain more than 100,000 people. If realized, this bill could skyrocket ICE’s budget to never before seen funding levels. ICE would have 13 times its current annual fiscal budget for detention, which is already operating at a historic high. This would provide a windfall to the private prison companies with ties to top-level officials in the administration.
Immigrant justice advocates and authors of the guide issued the following statements:
Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director of Detention Watch Network, said: “The intentional withholding of information by the administration paired with ICE’s culture of secrecy is yet another hallmark of an authoritarian regime, disappearing people and putting lives in jeopardy. Detention center visits are a critical tool for members of Congress to expose the ways ICE’s immigration detention system is inherently inhumane and rife with abuse. Constituents across the country are making clear they don’t want ICE agents or detention centers in their communities, and our members of Congress must take bold action by using every tool in the toolbox, including detention center visits, robust information requests, and strategic interventions like striking down the MAGA-backed reconciliation bill. Our elected officials must be vocal and resolute in their opposition to Trump’s cruel mass detention and deportation agenda.”
Anu Joshi, National Campaign Director for Immigration at the ACLU, said: “Members of Congress are legally authorized to conduct oversight responsibilities, and now more than ever, it’s critical that they continue to uphold those responsibilities and demand accountability for ICE’s track record of abuse in immigration detention. Our communities have a right to know how their taxpayer dollars are being used to fund the Trump administration’s cruel agenda to deport our immigrant neighbors and loved ones.”
Jesse Franzblau, Associate Director of Policy for the National Immigrant Justice Center, said: “Congress has the power and responsibility to demand visibility into ICE detention facilities where people face life threatening conditions. Immigration detention is a dark hole notorious for inhumane treatment, run largely by private prison companies who lobby intensely for taxpayer dollars to profit massively off the incarceration of human beings. At a time when Congress is debating the biggest historical increase in funding for immigration mega prisons, it is imperative that our elected officials see first hand the inside of these facilities and prevent any more funding for ICE detention.
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