A Pattern of Turning Away Members of Congress is Emerging Amid Concerns of Detention Facility Conditions

Via KTLA’s report on the escalating tensions in Los Angeles, I noted the following.

The unrest spread to downtown by Saturday evening, where protesters clashed with ICE agents outside the Federal Detention Center, where some detainees are believed to be held. Immigrant advocates, legal representatives and U.S. Rep. Jimmy Gomez (CA-34) attempted to enter the facility to see those who had been detained during raids but said they were denied entry multiple times.  

Here is a thread from Representative Gomez from Friday.

I won’t include all of the tweets, but here are a couple worth noting.

This is reminiscent of events at an ICE detention facility in Newark, NJ, wherein two members of Congress attempted to inspect a facility and where Newark Mayor Baraka was arrested. Charges were later filed against US Representative LaMonica McIver (D-NJ). 

I am going to guess that ICE is not legally obligated to accommodate an impromptu inspection of their facilities. But I also suspect that there is no law that prohibits them from doing so. Indeed, it is pretty clear that ICE’s leadership is choosing confrontation and intimidation of opposition legislators rather than cooperation and descalation.

This fits the “us versus them” of the situation quite starkly, I would note. And for all the assertions that the people voted for all of this, there is a distinct lack of respect for others who also won office via the vote (the governor of CA, the mayor of LA, US Representatives, etc.).

If conditions are acceptable, then the best and easiest way to quell concerns is to allow a courtesy inspection of the facilities. Denying access simply stokes fear and concerns.

Here is a CBS News report (as linked from Rep. Gomez’s tweet) from last week on conditions in Los Angeles: Immigrants at ICE check-ins detained, held in basement of federal building in Los Angeles, some overnight.

One attorney, Lizbeth Mateo, said ICE officials slated several of her clients for check-ins at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown L.A. but when they showed up on Tuesday, they were detained and immediately escorted to the basement.

Mateo said a couple and their two children, one of whom is a U.S. citizen, spent the night in a room with no beds and limited access to food and water. Mateo said the father had previously been issued a stay of removal, barring him from deportation but he and his family were detained anyway. His wife was released Wednesday evening along with their children since she needed medical attention due to a high-risk pregnancy. He was still being detained early Friday, Mateo said.

“This is something I’ve never seen before,” she added. “Under the first Trump administration, I represented clients with very difficult cases, but never anything like this. Under any other circumstance, he would have been released.”

It is clear that the Trump administration and people like Tom Homan and Stephen Miller do not see immigrants as human beings entitled to humane treatment and respect for their basic human rights. Instead, they are all lumped in as “the worst of the worst,” or “terrorists,” or “criminals,” or “gang members.” I would note that even criminal defendants have basic rights.

But one of the hallmarks of “us versus them” is that people in the “them” camp are not as important as those in the “us” camp.

There have been multiple reports of late concerning ICE detentions.

• The state of California had already issued a report detailing concerns about the treatment of detainees. Via Cal Matters: California sent investigators to ICE facilities. They found more detainees, and health care gaps.
• Here’s an NPR report concerning allegations of poor conditions a facility in Florida: In recorded calls, reports of overcrowding and lack of food at ICE detention centers.
• Here’s one from Massachusetts via WBUR: ICE holding immigrants in ‘abysmal’ conditions at Burlington office building, lawyers say.
• Another from Texas via The El Paso Times: Amnesty International report finds disregard for human rights in El Paso ICE facility.
• From Kanas via Straight Arrow News: Medical neglect, lockdowns and harsh conditions: Inside a Kansas ICE facility.