LEADER JEFFRIES IN NJ: "DELANEY HALL NEEDS TO BE SHUT DOWN"
Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Congresswoman Analilia Mejia joined Congressman Rob Menendez, clergy members, local elected officials, former detainees and families impacted by the Trump administration's mass deportation machine for a press availability following a roundtable discussion about the deplorable and inhumane conditions at ICE detention facilities like Delaney Hall.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for the people of this community, this state and throughout our country. Instead, taxpayer dollars are being used by ICE and Donald Trump's violent mass deportation machine to brutalize and kill American citizens and law-abiding immigrant families. Donald Trump lied to the American people. He said that immigration enforcement in this country was going to target the worst of the worst. That's not what has been happening. Immigration enforcement, ICE's violent, out-of-control and unhinged behavior are targeting people who are paying taxes, people who are homeowners, people who are raising families in this community and all across our country. ICE's violent behavior is targeting business owners, job creators, people who are contributing to the local economy, to the state economy and to the country's economy.
Donald Trump lied to the American people, he's hurting the American people and the behavior that ICE is engaging in is inconsistent with our values and what America should represent. Immigration enforcement in this country should be fair, just and humane. That's not what's happening, as was so powerfully communicated by family after family after family here today.
ICE detention centers, including Delaney Hall, which I've visited, are engaging in un-American behavior that includes the lack of adequate medical treatment to people who are oftentimes experiencing severe illness, including individuals who are being held in these detention facilities, women who are pregnant not getting the care that they need. We've consistently learned, including during the roundtable today, about the rancid food that is being provided to individuals who are being detained, to the unsanitary living conditions and to the indecency by which many individuals, including at Delaney Hall, are treating the individuals who have been rounded up, often violently, by ICE agents who've been unleashed throughout this country as part of Donald Trump's violent mass deportation machine.
The activity that we've continued to learn about is unacceptable, unconscionable and un-American, which is why dramatic change is necessary in this country with respect to the manner in which immigration enforcement is taking place. We do need comprehensive immigration reform along the lines of what Margarita has courageously talked about. And where we know there's no ability by these immigration officials or private companies to behave in a manner consistent with American values—and that certainly is the case at Delaney Hall—that Delaney Hall needs to be shut down. And that will remain a high priority for us until it takes place.
So I thank the families who we heard from for your courage, for your bravery, for your resilience. We will get this situation turned around, and we will make sure that there's justice for your loved ones who have been killed or died in custody. Three deaths at Delaney Hall. Completely and totally unacceptable. Fifty-five deaths in ICE custody since the beginning of Donald Trump's time in office over the last 17 months or so. That means one death in ICE custody every six days. That is not America, and that's why we're committed to turning the situation around.
Full remarks can be watched here.