Congresswoman Jayapal reports from ICE detention center in Georgia

Congresswoman Jayapal speaking at a press conference outside of Stewart Detention Center. Listen to her press conference here. 

By Congresswoman Jayapal

My first travel stop was in Lumpkin, Georgia, where I led a Congressional delegation to conduct oversight at the Stewart Detention Center, one of the largest immigration detention facilities in the country. 

This private, for-profit facility is consistently reported as one of the worst in the country — and what we saw there backed that up. We met directly with detained people after inspecting the facility and were absolutely horrified by their experiences. 

Consistent with what I’ve heard from people detained at the Northwest Detention Center in Washington State, detained people are not getting the care, the proper food, or the clean water that ICE says they are — to the point that we heard from several people who simply do not drink the water they are given and have to buy all their water from the commissary, a huge financial drain on them and their families. 

We met with people who had been denied medical care, one man who had a toothache so they just pulled his tooth, and as he spoke to us blood was still coming out of his mouth. Some of these people have been in detention for nearly a year and one man had been held for over two years, with no clue of when they might be released. 

And they are not the “worst of the worst” – according to ICE’s own statistics, 73% of people in immigration detention have no criminal record, and the vast majority of the remaining 27% have minor convictions like traffic tickets. We need to end the use of private, for-profit detention centers in this country, and pursue humane alternatives that keep families together.

Immediately after our visit to Stewart, ICE was already tweeting lies. Although ICE is required under the law and a court order to admit Members of Congress without any notice, we gave them two business days’ notice. 

In their tweet, they lied about when we arrived, when we left, and our behavior while there. If they lie about things as trivial as our arrival time, imagine what else they are lying about. This was a disturbing and informative trip, and as Ranking Member of the Immigration Subcommittee, I will take everything I saw back to Congress to hold ICE accountable.