WASHINGTON(TIP): Indian American women lawmakers Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Sen. Kamala Harris on May 15thintroduced a new bill titled Detention Oversight Not Expansion (DONE) Act to monitor the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers in the United States.
The bill is meant to keep a close watch of the ICE detention centers and proposes to halt the funding for any new construction, and expansion of such facilities.
According to the two Democrats, over the last two decades, the number of non-citizens held at ICE detention centers in the United States has increased by 400 percent and the inmates of these centers include women, children and pregnant women.
The bill’s text also says that these inmates are often mistreated by the ICE agents and are forced to live in deplorable conditions, in violation of their basic rights.
“Even though the U.S. already houses the largest immigrant detention system in the world, the Trump Administration wants more detention beds without any oversight,” said Jayapal in an official release posted on her website.
“The countless number of horrific assaults, senseless abuses and needless deaths of immigrants in detention prove that ICE isn’t able to police itself. Our bill demands a higher accountability of ICE and a stop to detention expansion because our nation doesn’t need more violence and further militarization – what we need is comprehensive and humane reform and real accountability,” she added.
“ICE’s indiscriminate approach to immigration enforcement continues to sow fear and anxiety in communities across the nation and strict oversight is long overdue,” said Harris.
“It is unconscionable to subject detainees to inhumane conditions that include cases of unchecked sexual abuse, outright medical negligence, lack of access to counsel, and in some cases, even death. It’s time to end the expansion of these facilities that divert these resources to address true public safety threats,” she added.
The new bill proposed by Jayapal and Harris require the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to submit a report to Congress that includes a plan to decrease the number of detention beds by 50 percent of the number available as of the date of the enactment of this Act by using alternatives to detention that are less costly to the taxpayer and have been shown to be successful.
It also proposes restoring and expanding the Family Case Management Program and calls for DHS’ Office of Inspector General to conduct unannounced inspections of all immigration detention facilities to ensure compliance with national standards, focusing on the health, safety and care of detainees, especially as it relates to pregnant women. The DHS OIG will be required to submit a report of its findings to Congress.
Jayapal and Harris also recommend the DHS Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to conduct similar investigations and submit a report of its findings to Congress.