Grijalva criticizes ICE secrecy on detainees
Members of Congress, including Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, have sent a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, requesting the agency be more transparent about the migrants housed in its detention centers nationwide.
The letter, from the Congressional Progressive, Hispanic, Black and Asian Pacific American caucuses, was sent to ICE’s acting director Thomas Homan. It comes as President Donald Trump’s administration has pressed for more aggressive enforcement of immigration laws.
In the letter, the lawmakers said the agency needs to publish up-todate data on ICE facilities and detainees, citing “ICE’s long history of failing to safeguard the health and safety of women, men and children and because the public has a right to know how taxpayer dollars are being spent in government and contract facilities.”
Grijalva, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said ICE should be held to the same standard as the Bureau of Prisons, which updates data on its facilities weekly.
Residents are interested in the conditions at centers located in their communities, he said.
ICE has four detention centers in Arizona: three in Florence and one in Eloy.
“Advocates and people who care about health standards, compliance, access to information or counsel, want to know the kinds of services being provided,” Grijalva said.
If the public knew the demographic statistics of those in the detention centers, he said it would change their perspective of those in it. Leaders have asked ICE to include age, gender and ethnicity when posting the data.
“These are not hardened ... traffickers, which we should be going after,” Grijalva said. “These are moms, kids, the guy who is working as a farm field worker in Yuma.”
Through a spokesman, Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Cedric Richmond said he “felt compelled to join the letter because communities of color deserve transparency from the government, especially as questionable and overly aggressive tactics are being employed.”
Lawmakers called ICE’s data incomplete and vague.
A list of 112 facilities is available on an interactive map but the lawmakers asked that ICE include relevant information, such as population.
The letter concludes that ICE needs to make data such as facility information, capacity and population details and standards compliance information available online.
Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said, “The agency and the private contractors ICE works with have a poor track record of ensuring the health and safety of those in their custody.”
She said it undermines the public’s ability to hold ICE accountable for the conditions of its facilities and treatment of individuals in detention.
“The public deserves to understand how taxpayer dollars are being used,” she said.
“Obtaining detailed data on ICE’s facilities and conditions for detention, including other salient information such as the number of assaults that occur in ICE facilities, is critical to safeguard the basic health and safety of all those detained,” Chu said.