SPLC Action: Following Resolution, Congress Must Shut Down ICE Facilities, Including Irwin County Detention Center
Horrific violations of women’s bodily autonomy just latest revelation to highlight dire need to release all individuals in ICE custody
WASHINGTON – Today, Representatives Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Annie Kuster (NH-02), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29) and Lois Frankel (FL-21) led 172 members of Congress in introducing a House Resolution condemning allegations of unnecessary medical procedures performed on immigrant women without their consent at the Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC) in Ocilla, Georgia.
The resolution follows two Congressional reports released just this week – one from the House Homeland Security Committee and one from the Oversight Committee – detailing Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) failure to meet basic standards of care and the deadly medical neglect at their detention facilities.
The following statement is from SPLC Action Fund President and CEO, Margaret Huang:
“Congress must shut down ICDC and all ICE detention centers across the country. Long-standing and well-documented medical neglect, medical abuses and failure to even adequately communicate with people who have limited English proficiency are endemic to ICE detention.
“ICE’s callous disregard for the safety and well-being of migrants permits the appalling medical abuse and violations of bodily autonomy that occur at ICDC and other detention centers across the country. The continuation of this system is indefensible.
“Attempts to reform and improve ICE facilities will continue to fall short because, in practice, the system is working exactly as intended. The ongoing abuses and loss of life are an indictment of a system that is designed to dehumanize thousands for the profit of a few.
“SPLC’s Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative (SIFI) teams have represented hundreds of individuals who have been subject to severe medical neglect and abuse, including individuals at ICDC. As we learn more about the abuses at ICDC, we demand respect for the right of impacted individuals to tell their stories on their own terms. SPLC is in solidarity with all who have been subject to this abuse, and the grassroots organizations leading the movement to end ICE detention."
