Liberty and Justice for All

Floor Speech

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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to thank Congresswoman Norma Torres for leading this important Special Order here tonight.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to condemn a dangerous and unaccountable immigration enforcement system that is harming the very communities our government is supposed to protect.

I want to focus particularly on the problems that we have and the failure of these facilities to provide basic medical services. I have seen the consequences firsthand during my visit to Delaney Hall, or my several visits, I should say, to Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey. The facility has inadequate medical facilities. The medical clinic is too small and lacks adequate staff.

The times I visited, there were maybe 600 or 700 people. The capacity is 1,200. There was no way that clinic could take care of and do the proper thing for the people who were detained.

Detainees there told me that often they waited 1 week or more to access the medical clinic. They were unable to get necessary care and medications. Some required surgery that was long delayed.

In my opinion, detention should never be a death sentence, but that is what we are seeing at Delaney Hall and the other detention facilities around the country.

Three people connected to Delaney Hall have now died in less than 1 year: Jean Wilson Brutus, Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, and Jose Chajon-Raxon. We have to remember their names. Their deaths demand answers about the conditions at Delaney Hall and whether ICE and its contractors protected people in their custody.

Delaney Hall is a privately run detention facility. The operator profits from the denial of medical care. I led 87 House Democrats in demanding answers from DHS and ICE about these deaths and failures of medical care throughout the detention system in the United States.

Mr. Speaker, these detention facilities are required by Federal law to provide certain medical services, and I assure you they are not doing so. DHS, ICE, and CBP must be subject to meaningful oversight and held accountable when people suffer or die under their care. The Trump administration in June canceled a rule that required reporting of deaths even after a detainee was released from a detention facility and an investigation within 30 days.

There are probably a lot more deaths than those we have been talking about tonight that are not reported by ICE since this rule was eliminated. Enforcing our immigration laws is no excuse for violating constitutional rights, putting human lives at risk, or essentially killing people. Those who have died in government custody deserve more than silence. Their lives matter, and their families deserve answers and accountability.

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