Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2006
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006 -- (House of Representatives - May 17, 2005)
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AMENDMENT OFFERED BY MR. MEEKS OF NEW YORK
Mr. MEEKS of New York. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
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Mr. MEEKS of New York. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise today to urge my colleagues to adopt this amendment, which I hope will cease the recent actions of the Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to begin closing the only secure detention center in New York City for noncriminal foreign nationals who enter our country illegally.
Closing this facility and releasing these individuals into the streets, as ICE is beginning to do, without conducting a proper screening, endangers the safety and security of New York City. The Queens detention facility has been utilized by ICE and its predecessor, INS, since 1989. Located within 4 miles of John F. Kennedy International Airport, the facility houses and processes detainees until their status can be determined. ICE oftentimes cannot properly classify a person as "high risk" or "low risk" at the initial questioning at John F. Kennedy Airport. Only after an investigation, while the individual is detained, can ICE determine whether the individual poses a threat. If it is determined that the entrant has criminal intent, they are transferred to a more secure facility for follow-up.
For example, a co-conspirator in the first World Trade Center bombing slipped through ICE's initial questioning at JFK and was subsequently identified by Queens detention facility personnel as a high-risk individual after they discovered bomb-making plans on this individual. Consequently, many high-risk individuals slip through the cracks initially and are only later identified as high-risk while they are in custody at the Queens detention facility.
In a recent correspondence, my colleagues and I who represent New York City urged the director of ICE, who may become our city's next U.S. Attorney, to halt its efforts to close the only secure noncriminal detention facility in New York City. We know this is New York City now, but it could be where any noncriminal detention facility is in the United States tomorrow; and in this day and age in which we currently live in, we have got to make sure that we are sure that individuals who have entered illegally into this country, that we may have detained, we have got to dot every I and cross every T to make sure we rely on no one to slip through the process.
So to just close what is happening at this facility now, right next to JFK in my district, to just close it in the manner in which they are closing it, just releasing people on the streets, at times we talk about how are you communicating with the individuals that are being released. It is simply by telephonic measures, not even by ankle bracelets or anything else. It endangers the entire population of New York; and I say if it is New York City today, it could be anywhere in the United States of America tomorrow.
So I ask and urge my colleagues to support this amendment which will ensure that this essential facility which serves a vital role in New York City, as well as the country's first line of defense, remain open.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. MEEKS of New York. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Let me just say that what we are looking at right now, the situation where ICE is moving in my district, in this particular facility and the next clearly in the immigration pattern in New York is one where it is very high, coming through John F. Kennedy, which is the gateway to America, if you will.
So when we have a facility like the facility that is currently in the district, to close it without any rationale or reason, then I think that we are defeating ourselves and defeating the security that is necessary to prevent people who enter this country illegally, some who could be very dangerous, from just walking the streets of the City of New York.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
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