The Department of Homeland Security has blocked individual House Oversight
Committee staff
members from visiting detention facilities on the Mexico and United States
border. Chairman of the
House Oversight Committee, Representative Elijah Cummings, sent a letter
to the acting Secretary of
the Department of Homeland Security, Kevin McAleenan, requesting his decision
be overturned and
allow them to visit the facilities once again. “I am writing to
express my deep concern that the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) decided to block Committee staff
from conducting visits
to 11 detention facilities just days after previous staff inspections
revealed potentially serious ongoing
problems with the treatment of children and adults in DHS custody - including
blocking visits to
sites where the Inspector General warned about ‘an immediate risk
to the health and safety of DHS
agents and officers, and to those detained,’” Cummings wrote
in the letter. The letter also stated that
DHS would place new restrictions on committee staffers access to the detention
facilities on the
border.
Cummings referenced McAleenan’s congressional testimony where he
welcomed visits to all detention facilities run by the Department of Homeland
Security. Last month, the Inspector General of DHS released a report warning
of severe overcrowding at some migrant detention centers, citing dangerous
and unsanitary conditions, like a lack of shower access and room to lie
down. This comes in comparison to Cummings’ letter that contained
similar findings and concerns at detention facilities.
The letter referenced migrants account of events where food was not given;
age-appropriate food for
young children was also not provided. Some accounts reference border patrol
agents telling children to drink spilled soup on the floor. Documents
were also forced to be signed by ICE officials without
proper translations and lawyers. The letter also stated that migrants
were not provided fresh food and
access to medical care.
“It appears that the Administration expects Congress to be satisfied
with receiving agency tours of
facilities - in some cases without the ability to photograph conditions
or interview detainees -
and not to question the policies or decisions that agency officials make,”
Cummings wrote in his letter. “That is not the way effective oversight
work,” he continued. “Congress has an independent
responsibility under the Constitution to determine whether federal programs
are operating as they
should be - not merely to accept the Administration’s word for it.”
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