U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez (D-8) is co-sponsoring the “Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act” in hopes of halting cruel conditions for migrants at detention centers.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“I am proud to support the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act, which will phase out the use of private migrant detention centers and hold currently open facilities accountable for unsafe conditions,” he said in a statement.
“I have long advocated for the closure of for-profit detention centers, including Delaney Hall and the Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey. Unfortunately, instead of working to improve conditions, the Trump Administration has chosen to illegally block members of Congress from conducting oversight visits. I will always continue this fight for dignity, accountability, and the ultimate closure of these detention centers through this legislation.”
The Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act would transform the treatment of migrants by the federal government through key reforms including:
• Repealing mandatory detention
• Prohibiting the detention of families and children in family detention
• Phasing out the use of private detention facilities and jails over a three-year period
• Require DHS to admit Members of Congress to detention facilities for unannounced inspections
• Creating a presumption of release and impose a higher burden of proof to detain primary caregivers and vulnerable populations, including asylum seekers, pregnant women, LGBTQ individuals, survivors of torture or gender-based violence, and people under age 21
• Requiring the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish civil detention standards that provide, at minimum, the level of protection in the American Bar Association’s Civil Immigration Detention Standards
• Mandating the Inspector General of DHS to conduct unannounced inspections with meaningful penalties for failure to comply with standards
“Under the Trump Administration, we have seen a shocking surge in the detention of people who have committed no crimes being locked up in increasingly horrifying conditions,” added U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), the primary bill sponsor.
“People are being held in squalor, largely in private, for-profit detention facilities, all to pad the bottom lines of prison corporations that donate to Donald Trump and Republicans. As Trump has struck down legal pathways and made it nearly impossible to come to or stay in this country, even for those who have been here for decades, this will only continue to get worse. We must pass this legislation to protect dignity and civil rights in America.”
Menendez has been a leader House on oversight of immigrant detention centers, and earlier this year was present at the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark with U.S. Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12) and LaMonica McIver (D-10) that resulted in national attention to the issue.
He has also worked to ban private immigrant detention centers and fought the Trump Administration’s illegal restrictions on oversight of detention centers.
