JAYAPAL. Mr. Chairman, the United States already operates the
largest immigration detention system in the world at a cost of $2
billion annually. In fiscal year 2017, ICE had the capacity to detain
an unprecedented 39,324 men, women, and children. Although a large
amount of funding is dedicated to detain these people, the system is
plagued with inhumane conditions and inadequate oversight. Mr. Chairman, my amendment imposes a moratorium on the construction and
expansion of immigration detention facilities. This year, we are seeing the highest number of deaths in ICE custody
since 2011. Private, for-profit detention facilities in particular have
not abided by basic standards necessary to protect civil and
constitutional rights, and all of this is occurring at the same time
that the administration is increasing enforcement, including expedited
removals with inadequate due process, elimination of the longstanding
division between local police and Federal immigration enforcement, and
this is all tearing families apart. The overreach of these detention facilities combined with an
overreach on enforcement in general, instead of focussing on more
practical, humane, and, frankly, economically viable options of
alternatives to detention, are issues that Congress must address. We should not be funding these dangerous overreaches by expanding
immigration detention with no accountability. This amendment ensures
that we focus on fixing this broken system as opposed to funding an
increased detention expansion, and this is deadly. It is a deadly
powder keg, and I don't use the term ``deadly'' lightly.
Keywords matched
immigration