Jayapal, Johnson, Williams, Foushee, Ross Conduct Oversight at Stewart Detention Center
Full video of Members’ remarks following their visit can be found HERE.
LUMPKIN, G.A. — U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, along with Congressmembers Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr. (GA-04), Nikema Williams (GA-05), Valerie Foushee (NC-04), and Deborah Ross (NC-02), today conducted oversight at the Stewart Detention Center.
“We are horrified by the situation here at Stewart,” said Jayapal. “We believe this detention center should be shut down. What we heard from detained people today was that they are not getting the care, the proper food, or the clean water that ICE says they are — to the point that we heard from several people who are simply not drinking water that they haven’t bought bottled from the commissary. Stewart is a failure of the promise of America, and I will continue working to get this facility, and all private, for-profit detention centers, shut down.”
“Stewart Detention Center has a long history of denying basic human dignity and rights to detainees. Since he took office, the Stephen Miller, Steve Bannon, bandwagon that has been rolling throughout the country collecting immigrants and then depositing them into facilities like Stewart Detention Facility, where they languish for months and even years at a time,” said Johnson.
“We conducted an oversight visit to Stewart Detention Center because accountability requires seeing firsthand how people in our nation’s immigration detention system are being treated. Some of the people detained in facilities like this came to this country with their parents at two or three years old—this is the only country they have ever called home. Yet they are being held as if they are hardened criminals. I will continue to do this work because everyone in this country, regardless of where they were born or their documentation status, deserves to be treated with dignity and respect,” said Williams.
“It was heart-wrenching to hear detained people talk about their stories and the family members that they have left. We heard from a gentleman whose wife has end stage renal disease, and she’s not getting the proper care. For people not to be able to have contact and have to constantly be worried about the conditions of their family members back home is another level of cruelty that has been added to the conditions under which they live. We didn’t get a whole lot of answers, but we saw a lot of things,” said Foushee.
“You cannot make money off the backs of immigrants and poor people. It is inhumane. It is unjust. And it is your taxpayer dollars, at least $150 a day to hold people who shouldn’t even be in detention in the first place. This has got to stop now,” said Ross.
Immigration advocates have criticized Stewart as one of the worst detention facilities in the country and many of its problems have persisted throughout Stewart’s history. Federal agencies, independent watchdogs, facility staff, detained people, and advocates have documented abuses including unsanitary conditions, inadequate and inedible food, medical neglect, poor mental health care, inappropriate and overuse of solitary confinement, and use of force.
Stewart has also been consistently overcrowded since Trump came into office. As of the week of July 27, the facility was over capacity by a few hundred. There have also been two suicides at the facility since Trump returned to office.
Members toured the facility and met with detained persons to hear about conditions directly from them. Their full takeaways can be found here.
Issues: Immigration