H.R. 2217, Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2014

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of Mr. Deutch and Mr. Foster's amendment.

I think it is absolutely astonishing. We can have a conversation about different people who are here undocumented and whether or not they ought to be in detention and whether or not they have a criminal record and whether they're a danger to our country, but to say that 34,000 beds have to be filled no matter what is so un-American. It's so un-American to say we're going to build X number of prison cells and then, no matter what the law says, we're going to fill them. We start with the need to fill the cell?

What the Deutch-Foster amendment would do would be to strike that mandate. It doesn't strike the idea that some people are going to be detained. It just strikes the idea that we have to fill what Janet Napolitano, who is the Homeland Security Secretary, just said is arbitrary. These mandated levels effectively mean that ICE, our immigration system, can't make detention decisions based on risk to our country, to our people, the various agency priorities. Its officers have to focus instead on filling daily quotas. And as a result, growing numbers of immigrants are held in detention. In fiscal year 2011 alone, ICE detained 429,000 people.

Let's talk about those people. Some of them are dangerous criminals, but most are not. Over half of the immigrants detained in 2009 and 2010 had zero criminal history. Of those who did, about 20 percent had only traffic violations. Only 11 percent of the detainees with felony convictions had committed violent crimes.

Included among those detained are victims of trafficking, families with small children, elderly individuals, individuals with serious medical and mental health conditions. Many of those detained have U.S. citizen children or spouses and deep ties to their American families and their communities. Many have potential claims for lawful status, but still are detained for months or even years. Some are even survivors of torture seeking asylum in the United States.

In my district, the Heartland Alliance Marjorie Kovler Center works with survivors of torture and emphasizes that placing these individuals in detention can be particularly traumatic, even replicating the feeling of vulnerability that they experienced during their torture.

And the irony is this: detaining large numbers of immigrants who have no criminal convictions, except immigration charges, does not make us safer. It's not necessary to enforce immigration law--we don't need it to enforce the immigration law--and it represents a major waste of taxpayer dollars. Each detainee costs the government around $164 a day to hold. I understand why the prison industry, the private prisons in particular, would love to see $164 and set this goal of detaining all these people every day.

So we should detain people because they pose a threat to our communities, not to meet congressionally mandated quotas. The criminal justice system does use a range of cheaper and effective custody options: electronic monitoring, house arrest. Alternatives to detention cost between 30 cents and $14 per individual per day, far less than our current spending on detention.

We're making real progress toward immigration reform. The Senate is considering language that would allow undocumented immigrants to come out of the shadows and earn the chance to pursue their American Dream.

Let me tell you, as a first-generation American, I find this policy so offensive to me, and my district is one of the most diverse in the country. To say we have to fill prison beds with these people, whether or not they're criminals, whether or not they pose harm to our country, this is not who we are as Americans. These provisions don't make us safer and they don't solve the immigration challenges we face. They are a waste of taxpayer money.

I urge support of the Deutch-Foster amendment in promoting real immigration reform and yield back the balance of my time.

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