Jayapal Says ICE Obstructed Oversight Visit At Tacoma Detention Center

India-West News Desk

TACOMA, WA – Pramila Jayapal, the ranking member of the House Immigration, Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee, said she was delayed for hours and initially denied access to detained individuals during an oversight visit to the Northwest ICE Processing Center, despite providing advance notice and required documentation.

In a statement released after the visit, Jayapal said she gave eight days’ notice of her intent to conduct oversight and obtained privacy release forms for specific detained people. Despite that, she said facility officials told her she was approved only for a detention center “tour,” not for meetings with detained individuals or senior staff. Jayapal said she agreed to take the tour in order to ask questions but received few substantive answers.

After several hours at the facility, Jayapal said she refused to leave until she was allowed to meet with one detained individual for whom she had a privacy waiver and whose attorney was present. She said the meeting ultimately took place in a public visitation area rather than a private attorney room, which she said she has been granted in the past as a member of Congress.

Jayapal described the encounter as “heartbreaking,” saying the detained individual is the sole caregiver for his 8-year-old U.S. citizen daughter and has serious medical conditions. According to Jayapal, the man has been hospitalized in the emergency room three times since being detained on Jan. 11 and continues to experience unresolved medical issues.

While waiting, the Democratic Congresswoman said, she and her staff spoke with attorneys visiting clients at the facility. She said attorneys reported routinely waiting four to five hours to see detainees and said the detention center has only seven attorney rooms for a population of about 1,300 people. Jayapal added that attorneys raised concerns about inadequate medical care, overcrowding, and food quality.

Jayapal accused the Department of Homeland Security, under Secretary Kristi Noem, of obstructing congressional oversight. “This only makes me more certain that DHS and these private for-profit contractors have a lot to hide,” she said, noting that about 70,000 people are incarcerated in immigration detention each night. Since Trump came into office, Jayapal said, ICE has reported 38 deaths in custody. She added that ICE’s own statistics show 85 percent of people held in for-profit detention facilities have committed no crime.

“I will continue to come back, continue to insist on performing my official responsibilities and fight like hell to get real oversight and to put an end to this abusive behavior,” Jayapal said.

Jayapal said she previously demanded answers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons about conditions at the facility during a December inquiry.