Skip to Content
| News

Jayapal, Smith Introduce Legislation to End Inhumane Immigration Detention Conditions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Representatives Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) and Adam Smith (WA-09) are today introducing the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act, legislation to enact guardrails and oversight on immigration detention, and to ensure civil and human rights are protected. 

“Under the Trump Administration, we have seen a shocking surge in the detention of people who have committed no crimes being locked up in increasingly horrifying conditions,” said Jayapal. “People are being held in squalor, largely in private, for-profit detention facilities, all to pad the bottom lines of prison corporations that donate to Donald Trump and Republicans. As Trump has struck down legal pathways and made it nearly impossible to come to or stay in this country, even for those who have been here for decades, this will only continue to get worse. We must pass this legislation to protect dignity and civil rights in America.”

“We are witnessing appalling conditions for immigration detention and a clear disregard for basic human rights,” said Smith. “No one should be subjected to overcrowded cells, denied medical care, or held in facilities that profit off of human suffering. This legislation establishes the oversight and guardrails needed to end these abuses and ensure that people are treated with dignity.”

Since President Trump returned to office, the use of immigration detention has skyrocketed to unprecedented levels, with over 66,000 people detained. During that period of time, 23 people have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. Nearly 73 percent of those detained have no criminal convictions, and many of those with convictions have only minor offenses, including traffic violations. 

Detained people in these facilities are being held in inhumane living conditions, with reports of overcrowding forcing 35 men to share one toilet and sleep head to toe on concrete floors, of people being served only a cup of rice a day or rotting food, and of people having their medications withheld or being denied necessary medical care. Further, the Trump Administration has restarted the practice of detaining families and children, which has long been criticized as unsafe and inflicting irreversible harm on children. 

This is while the Trump Administration has blocked Congressional oversight, despite death reports that do not line up with autopsy reports. In the case of Chaofeng Ge, ICE stated that he died by suicide, while his attorney alleges he was found with his hands and feet tied. 

The Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act would: 

  • Repeal mandatory detention;
  • Prohibit the detention of families and children in family detention;
  • Create a presumption of release and impose a higher burden of proof to detain primary caregivers and vulnerable populations, including pregnant women, survivors of torture or gender-based violence, people with serious mental or physical illness or disability, LGBTQ individuals, asylum seekers, and people over age 60;
  • Phase out the use of private detention facilities and jails over a three-year period;
  • Require DHS to establish civil detention standards that provide, at minimum, the level of protection in the American Bar Association’s Civil Immigration Detention Standards;
  • Mandate the DHS Inspector General to conduct unannounced inspections with meaningful penalties for failure to comply with standards; and
  • Require DHS to admit Members of Congress to detention facilities for unannounced inspections.

“The reintroduction of the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act could not come at a more urgent moment,” said Haddy Gassama, Senior Policy Counsel at the ACLU. “We are witnessing an unprecedented expansion of the immigration detention system, with billions of taxpayer dollars being funneled into the hands of private prison corporations, profiteers who are building and operating abusive detention facilities, while deaths in custody and other egregious abuses reach record levels. These are not abstract policy failures; they are the lived realities of the 66,000 people disappeared into an inhumane system that has long thrived on opacity, minimal oversight, and virtually no accountability.

“The reintroduction of the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act comes at a critical moment, as the harsh realities of immigration detention are no longer hidden but visible in every empty seat once occupied by a loved one sent to detention,” said Jennifer Ibañez Whitlock, Senior Policy Counsel at the National Immigration Law Center. “Real change will take time, but immigration detention is an urgent threat that demands immediate action. The National Immigration Law Center welcomes the re-introduction of this important bill and urges Congress to act quickly to secure its passage.”

“The National Immigrant Justice Center is grateful for members of Congress fighting for communities increasingly under attack, facing inhumane conditions in a system driven by private contractors profiting off the imprisonment of human beings,” said Jesse Franzblau, Associate Director of Policy, National Immigrant Justice Center. “The Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act is pivotal legislation that works to end the private incentive to fill up prisons, fund communities and not cages, and combat impunity for the persistent human rights violations that occur everyday in immigration detention. This legislation is a guide for Congress working to dismantle walls and prisons and invest in an immigration system grounded in humanity.”

“Trump’s cruel mass detention and deportation agenda has reached a previously unimaginable scope and scale, skyrocketing the number of people in immigration detention,” said Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director of Detention Watch Network. “In more than 200 detention facilities across the country ICE subjects people to medical neglect, overcrowding, horrendous conditions of confinement, and rampant transfers that disappear people into the detention system, sowing confusion and cutting people off from their loved ones and support networks.  As the administration aggressively expands the detention system and puts people’s lives in jeopardy at a cost to all Americans, Congress must take immediate and decisive action to intervene. While this bill does not fully end the inhumane and unnecessary system of immigration detention, it takes a bold step forward by ending mandatory detention, ending privatized detention, enacting critical safeguards and reversing the trend of constant, unchecked growth.” 

The Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act is sponsored by Alma Adams (NC-12), Gabe Amo (RI-01), Yassamin Ansari (AZ-03), Becca Balint (VT-AL), Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Donald S. Beyer, Jr. (VA-08), Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Brendan F. Boyle (PA-02), Shontel Brown (OH-11), Julia Brownley (CA-26), André Carson (IN-07), Troy A. Carter Sr. (LA-02), Greg Casar (TX-35), Sean Casten (IL-06), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), Judy Chu (CA-28), Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09), Emanuel Cleaver, II (MO-05), Steve Cohen (TN-09), J. Luis Correa (CA-46), Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), Jason Crow (CO-06), Danny K. Davis (IL-07), Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Diana DeGette (CO-01), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10), Maxine Dexter (OR-03), Debbie Dingell (MI-06), Lloyd Doggett (TX-37), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Dwight Evans (PA-03), Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07), Valerie Foushee (NC-04), Lois Frankel (FL-22), Laura Friedman (CA-30), Maxwell Frost (FL-10), John Garamendi (CA-08), Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04), Robert Garcia (CA-42), Sylvia R. Garcia (TX-29), Dan Goldman (NY-10), Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), Al Green (TX-09), Adelita Grijalva (AZ-07), Jahana Hayes (CT-05), Pablo José Hernández (PR-At Large), Steven Horsford (NV-04), Val Hoyle (OR-04), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Glenn Ivey (MD-04), Jonathan Jackson (IL-01), Sara Jacobs (CA-51), Henry C. “Hank” Johnson (GA-04), Julie Johnson (TX-32), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), Robin L. Kelly (IL-02), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Summer Lee (PA-12), Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03), Mike Levin (CA-49), Ted W. Lieu (CA-36), Zoe Lofgren (CA-18), Doris Matsui (CA-07), Jennifer McClellan (VA-04), Betty McCollum (MN-04), Morgan McGarvey (KY-03), James P. McGovern (MA-02), LaMonica McIver (NJ-10), Gregory W. Meeks (NY-05), Robert Menendez (NJ-08), Grace Meng (NY-06), Gwen Moore (WI-04), Seth Moulton (MA-06), Kevin Mullin (CA-15), Jerrold Nadler (NY-12), Donald Norcross (NJ-01), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-At Large), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06), Jimmy Panetta (CA-19), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Mike Quigley (IL-05), Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03), Emily Randall (WA-06), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Luz Rivas (CA-29), Deborah Ross (NC-02), Raul Ruiz, M.D. (CA-25), Andrea Salinas (OR-06), Linda Sánchez (CA-38), Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Lateefah Simon (CA-12), Darren Soto (FL-09), Melanie Stansbury (NM-01), Marilyn Strickland (WA-10), Eric Swalwell (CA-14), Emilia Sykes (OH-13), Mark Takano (CA-39), Shri Thanedar (MI-13), Mike Thompson (CA-04), Bennie G. Thompson (MS-02), Dina Titus (NV-01), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Jill Tokuda (HI-02), Paul D. Tonko (NY-20), Ritchie Torres (NY-15), Lori Trahan (MA-03), Juan Vargas (CA-52), Marc Veasey (TX-33), Nydia M. Velázquez (NY-07), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), Maxine Waters (CA-43), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Nikema Williams (GA-05), and Frederica S. Wilson (FL-24).

The legislation is also endorsed by American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU); Detention Watch Network; National Immigrant Justice Center; National Immigration Law Center; AFL-CIO; African Communities Together; African Human Rights Coalition; AFT; American Friends Service Committee (AFSC); American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA); Amica Center for Immigrant Rights ; Amnesty International USA; Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC; ASISTA Immigration Assistance; Bend the Arc: Jewish Action; CASA; Center for Constitutional Rights; Center for Gender & Refugee Studies; Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP); Center for Victims of Torture; Church World Service; Communities United for Status & Protection (CUSP); Community Change Action; Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces; Congressional Progressive Caucus; Disability Law United; Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM); Franciscan Action Network; Friends Committee on National Legislation ; Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees; Haitian Bridge Alliance; Human Rights First ; Immigrant Justice Network; Immigrant Legal Resource Center; Immigration Equality Action Fund; Indivisible; Just Detention International ; The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA); LatinoJustice PRLDEF; Make the Road States; Muslim Advocates; National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd; National Immigration Project; National Partnership for New Americans; National Religious Campaign Against Torture; NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice; People’s Action Institute; Refugees International ; Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights; Service Employees International Union (SEIU); Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF); Social Workers for Immigration Justice; Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC); Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC); Tahirih Justice Center; UndocuBlack Network; UnidosUS; Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice; United Church of Christ; Vera Institute of Justice; Adhikaar for Human Rights and Social Justice; Ayuda; Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA); Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights; Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef); Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy (ISLA); JAMAAT – Jews and Muslims Ana Allies Acting Together; Miami Valley Immigration Coalition; Northwest Immigrant Rights Project; OneAmerica; Promise Arizona; Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network; and Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN). 

Issues: , ,