Speech #1100173943

LIEBERMAN. KERRY. and BINGAMAN to introduce the Detainee Basic Medical Care Act. First. the bill would require the Department of Homeland Security to establish procedures for delivering basic health care to all immigrant detainees in custody. It requires the Department to give people in custody access to any medications they urgently need. both during detention and transfers. Currently. a bureaucrat in an office can overrule a medical professional who is actually onsite and seeing a detainee. This bill ensures that treatment decisions are made by the professionals who actually see the patient. Finally. the bill would require the Department to report all detainee deaths to the Office of Inspector General and Congress. We can never lose sight of the fact that everyone who immigrates to this country. whether they are documented or not. is a human being. A detention should never amount to a death sentence. This kind of action to ensure humane treatment and prevent unnecessary deaths at these facilities is long overdue. Let us not forget that many in immigration detention are there for minor violations. many because of administrative errors or pending legitimate asylum cases. At this point. this becomes more than a legal issue. it becomes a human rights issue. It is our job to do all we can to secure our country while also protecting the dignity of all human beings. If we fail to do so. not only do we blemish ourselves. but we lose the moral high ground to be a beacon of democracy and a leader of human rights around the world. It Is astounding to me that human beings could be treated as badly as some are being treated on our soil. When innocent people are drugged. tranquilized. and treated similar to animals. when agents attempt to handcuff a pregnant U.S. citizen. break down the door to her home. terrify her children and her family. when an agency of the Federal Government deports its own citizen. when all this is going on. each of us in America has to think: What is happening in our country? Doesnt my U.S. citizenship. whether by birth or naturalization. protect me from this kind of abuse? Some officials have claimed these incidents are rare. and some have suggested this is acceptable collateral damage in pursuit of undocumented aliens. Tell that to our fellow citizens who found themselves either detained illegally or deported. Tell that to Pedro. Gladis and Amina and everyone else and all the families who have had to watch this happen. No matter how widespread this pattern of abuse turns out to be. one thing is clear: It isnt rare enough. There is only one way to prevent that kind of abuse. and it should be a universal policy that before we accuse someone of being undocumented. there is one other document we should inspect first. It is called the Constitution of the United States. It is time for immigration and law enforcement at all levels to rededicate themselves to respecting the rights the Constitution guarantees. That means respecting the need for probable cause and the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure guaranteed by the fourth amendment. the right to due process guaranteed by the fifth and fourteenth amendments. and the full benefits of citizenship and equal protection for anyone born or naturalized in this country. guaranteed by the 14th amendment. and the entire range of rights and protections under our Constitution. It is going to take real leadership at every level of our justice system. from the Attorney General to the Secretary of Homeland Security on down. That is the only way that those who by birth or naturalization have a legitimate right to pursue the American dream and to make sure their lives do not turn into an unAmerican nightmare. This issue might not be the legislative business of the Chamber at this moment. but it is always our moral business. It is always our moral business to defend the most fundamental principle on which our Nation was founded: that all of us are created equal.