Chicago Tribune: Republicans in Congress mocked the Obama administration’s plans to improve conditions for immigrants held in county jails and detention facilities Wednesday, saying that a raft of reforms written by U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement amounts to coddling lawbreakers.
In a hearing titled “Holiday on ICE,” Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, took aim at recent administrative changes designed to improve medical care for detainees, reduce incidents of sexual abuse, increase access to safe water and outdoor recreation, among other reforms.
ICE made the changes after coming under fire from news reports, human rights groups and internal investigations for putting immigrants who have not been convicted of crimes in detention facilities plagued by sexual assaults and inadequate medical care.
Democrats on the committee took aim at the sarcastic title of the hearing, saying it belittled the serious issue of ICE’s poor track record of ensuring the safety and health of detainees in custody. To help make that point, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) displayed graphic photographs depicting immigrants with fatal wounds and medical conditions that went untreated in detention facilities.
The ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), had asked Smith to reconsider the title of the hearing, in a letter sent Tuesday. “I hope we can agree that the manner in which we treat immigrants in our detention facilities is not a laughing matter,” Conyers wrote.
But Smith was undeterred.
“ICE has decided to upgrade accommodations for detained illegal and criminal immigrants,” he said during the opening minutes of the hearing. “While we would all like to be upgraded, we don’t have the luxury of billing the American taxpayers or making federal law enforcement agents our concierge.”
“Detention is no holiday,” said Greg Chen, the director of advocacy for the American Immigration Lawyers Association who attended the hearing. “I think they should be embarrassed to describe people who are deprived of their liberty as if they were on vacation.”
There are over 33,000 immigrants and asylum seekers held in local and county jails and other detention facilities across the country. Many are waiting for an immigration judge to decide whether they will be deported.
The Obama administration has deported more people than any previous administration. Last year, 396,906 people were deported, a record number of the third year in a row.
“I would like to be clear that no member is against the humane treatment of detainees,” said Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) However, Gallegly said, the new 400 pages of detention standards made public in February are part of a broader effort by the Obama administration to put the interests of illegal immigrants ahead of the interests of American citizens and taxpayers.
The best way to help immigration detainees is to deport them more quickly, said Gallegly, “not to roll out the welcome mat at a posh detention facility.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement amounts to coddling lawbreakers.
In a hearing titled “Holiday on ICE,” Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, took aim at recent administrative changes designed to improve medical care for detainees, reduce incidents of sexual abuse, increase access to safe water and outdoor recreation, among other reforms.
ICE made the changes after coming under fire from news reports, human rights groups and internal investigations for putting immigrants who have not been convicted of crimes in detention facilities plagued by sexual assaults and inadequate medical care.
Democrats on the committee took aim at the sarcastic title of the hearing, saying it belittled the serious issue of ICE’s poor track record of ensuring the safety and health of detainees in custody. To help make that point, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) displayed graphic photographs depicting immigrants with fatal wounds and medical conditions that went untreated in detention facilities.
The ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), had asked Smith to reconsider the title of the hearing, in a letter sent Tuesday. “I hope we can agree that the manner in which we treat immigrants in our detention facilities is not a laughing matter,” Conyers wrote.
But Smith was undeterred.
“ICE has decided to upgrade accommodations for detained illegal and criminal immigrants,” he said during the opening minutes of the hearing. “While we would all like to be upgraded, we don’t have the luxury of billing the American taxpayers or making federal law enforcement agents our concierge.”
“Detention is no holiday,” said Greg Chen, the director of advocacy for the American Immigration Lawyers Association who attended the hearing. “I think they should be embarrassed to describe people who are deprived of their liberty as if they were on vacation.”
There are over 33,000 immigrants and asylum seekers held in local and county jails and other detention facilities across the country. Many are waiting for an immigration judge to decide whether they will be deported.
The Obama administration has deported more people than any previous administration. Last year, 396,906 people were deported, a record number of the third year in a row.
“I would like to be clear that no member is against the humane treatment of detainees,” said Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) However, Gallegly said, the new 400 pages of detention standards made public in February are part of a broader effort by the Obama administration to put the interests of illegal immigrants ahead of the interests of American citizens and taxpayers.
The best way to help immigration detainees is to deport them more quickly, said Gallegly, “not to roll out the welcome mat at a posh detention facility.”
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