Rep. Ilhan Omar is leading the push among several Democrats urging the Biden administration to bar Immigration and Customs Enforcement from contracting with local prisons for detainment purposes.
The Minnesota Democrat, who cited that almost half of the immigration detention facilities are held in prisons and jails, is aiming to ensure that migrants coming into the United States, in flee of turmoil in their own countries, are not treated like criminals upon entry at the border. Omar also alluded to the harsh conditions jails and prisons can have or subject on an inmate.
PELOSI SAYS THERE’S A ‘HUMANITARIAN CHALLENGE’ AT THE BORDER AND BLAMES TRUMP FOR ‘BROKEN SYSTEM’
“Conditions in municipal, county, and state jails and prisons contracting with ICE to detain immigrants mirror the systemic abuses in privately operated immigration detention facilities, including medical neglect, long term use of solitary confinement, sexual assault, and lack of access to legal counsel,” Omar wrote in a letter addressed to Alejandro Mayorkas, head of the Department of Homeland Security, and Susan Rice, director of the Domestic Policy Council.
She pointed to how the coronavirus pandemic highlighted some of the issues in corrections facilities, which have dealt with overcrowding and large outbreaks of COVID-19. Details of the poor conditions in some jails and prisons have also led to criminal justice advocates calling for better public health oversight of inmates.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the most egregious examples of medical neglect and failure to follow public health protocols occurred in locally operated jails and prisons,” Omar said.
Lawmakers who signed on to Omar’s letter included Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush, and Carolyn Maloney, among others.
Other Democrats known for more centrist approaches to immigration have warned the Biden administration that they need to do a more effective job of discouraging migrants from crossing the border at all.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat who is a member of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, urged administration officials to change their messaging to prevent people from crossing the border instead of just asking people to delay their trips.
“The messaging is very, very important. They should learn from what happened in 2014,” Cuellar told Politico. “I think, because of the pandemic, it’s going to be a humanitarian crisis very, very soon.”
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Thousands of migrant children remain in custody in warehouse-like conditions. Customs and Border Protection authorities said last week there were more than 100,000 attempted illegal crossings in February and a 50% increase in drug seizures.
