Liberty and Justice for All
Floor Speech
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Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Torres and the CHC, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, for their leadership on this issue.
As ICE detains record numbers of people in overcrowded, unsanitary immigration prisons, 56 people have died under Donald Trump's administration, a 22-year high.
Let's be very clear: It is all about the money. Two for-profit corporations, GEO Group and CoreCivic, operate the majority of detention beds. Together, they raked in $1.4 billion in quarterly revenue last spring. Every single night, U.S. taxpayers are paying $150 to $350 per person, per night to detain over 65,000 people.
The Trump administration has rolled back detention standards and gutted oversight, allowing corporations to cut corners and maximize profits.
GEO and CoreCivic donated nearly $2.8 million to Donald Trump's 2024 election. They are paying the administration to boost their profits at taxpayer expense.
Meanwhile, who is Trump detaining? By ICE's own statistics, 70 percent have no criminal record. Increasingly, these are people that ICE would never have detained before: pregnant women, people with serious medical conditions, parents, people with green cards, and people showing up to their immigration appointments.
As ranking member of the Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee, I am notified of every single death that happens in detention. Behind every single one is a name.
Edwin Lopez-Cornejo died at GEO Group's Delaney Hall. He was a 41- year-old father of a 12-year-old U.S. citizen. ICE refused to give him his diabetes medication. His brother said he couldn't get Tylenol, let alone proper care.
Nenko Gantchev died under similar circumstances at another GEO facility. His health seriously deteriorated in detention as ICE reportedly provided no accommodation for his diabetes.
The coroner declared one death a homicide--Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old father of four.
Two weeks ago, I led a congressional delegation to inspect CoreCivic's Stewart Detention Center. We met a young man who fled the war in Yemen and has been detained for 24 months. He has no criminal record. Just that morning, ICE pulled his tooth. Blood was still pooling in his mouth as he met with us.
We met a 72-year-old man whose U.S.-citizen wife is in end-stage renal failure. ICE picked him up at his green card appointment. He has no criminal record and just wants to care for his wife.
We met a woman who can no longer conceive because she was subjected to a medical procedure without her consent in ICE custody. She is having healthcare issues, but she is terrified to seek care again from ICE. Meanwhile, her teenage daughter is suffering alone. We are creating generational trauma.
In my district, ICE arrests are at an all-time high. GEO refuses to obey Washington State law or even allow health inspectors in.
This has never been about the so-called worst of the worst. It has always been about the right wing's racist, fascist vision of ridding America of immigrants.
Mr. Speaker, Americans are rejecting this. When I am chair of the Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee come January, I intend to hold these people accountable for the cruelty and corruption and pass comprehensive, humane immigration reform.
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