Representatives Maxwell Frost (D-FL), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), and Adriano Espalliat (D-NY) have introduced legislation exposing and demanding accountability for supposed human rights abuses conducted in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers.
Specifically, the Stop Unlawful Detention and End Mistreatment (SUDEM) Act demands that ICE detail who is being detained in its detention centers, broken down by age, nationality, immigration status, and rationale for their detainment. Other aspects demanded in the bill include statistics on the use of force, disciplinary actions, transfers, and deportations.
"Donald Trump and Republicans have turned our immigration system into a taxpayer-funded kidnapping operation," Rep. Frost said in his press release, adding, "People are being disappeared into a system that operates in the shadows — without public accountability, without basic human dignity, and often without legal justification. The SUDEM Act is about pulling back the curtain. This bill won't fix everything, but if Donald Trump and his allies think these policies are defensible, then they shouldn't be afraid to tell the public exactly what they're doing. If they're proud of it, they'll report it. If they're ashamed, they need to end it."
Similarly, Rep. Wasserman Schultz said, "I just saw inhumane, overcrowded conditions inside Krome Detention Center in Miami, where detainees recently died. Yet ICE refuses to release data on who is being held and why."
"Nearly half the people in Krome have no criminal record. Now, Trump wants to cram hundreds of thousands of lawful TPS and humanitarian parole recipients into these facilities while DHS shuts out essential watchdogs that defend civil rights and due process everyone deserves. I'm proud to help lead this legislation to restore transparency and humanity to Trump's lawless policies that tear apart families and terrorize our communities," Rep. Wasserman Schultz continued.
"The secrecy surrounding this administration's immigration policy is the stuff of dictatorship, not democracy," said Rep. Espalliat. "When masked ICE agents are playing fast and loose with the law and elected officials are being arrested for visiting detention facilities for lawful oversight and accountability, including at Delaney Hall in Newark, 26 Federal Plaza in my district, and the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles—Congress must act."
However, Representative Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) recently led a House Oversight visit to the ICE detention facility, part of the Federal Department of Corrections in Miami, and found no evidence of human rights abuses.
"Each unit includes an outdoor recreation area, phones for personal and legal including direct lines to embassies-and access to computers for communication and email," said Rep. Gimenez, adding, "Medical care is readily available, with a nurse practitioner stationed on every detainee floor, two full-time doctors, and onsite x-ray, optometry, dental, and hearing services. This is a detention center, not a hotel. And I did not see anything at FDC Miami that would make us feel ashamed of being Americans."
