EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — A dozen Democratic members of Congress this week sued the Trump administration after being denied access to immigration detention facilities.
Among them was El Paso Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, who stated that she was denied entry to the El Paso Service Processing Center despite giving officials 24 hours’ notice, “more than is required by law.”
“I was turned away from the ICE facility on Montana Ave., where I planned to conduct my constitutionally authorized oversight duties,” Escobar said in a statement.
According to the Associated Press, by law, members of Congress are permitted to visit ICE facilities without any notice. However, ICE officials have said a new rule requires a seven-day waiting period.
The lawsuit seeks to ensure they are granted entry into the facilities, even without prior notice.
Across the state line, U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-New Mexico, took into consideration what Escobar had experienced and gave ICE officials further notice to enter the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral, New Mexico.
He was allowed to visit on Wednesday afternoon. Like his fellow Democrats, Vasquez was responding to reports of overcrowding and poor conditions and, among other things, accusations of mistreatment.
Vasquez spoke with Border Report outside the facility immediately after his visit.
He said the visit was not as he’d hoped. He says he toured an empty dormitory, an empty kitchen, and was not allowed to talk to detainees.
However, he said the facility was over-capacity and that the majority of the detainees had no criminal convictions or no pending criminal charges. He also said he saw phones and toilets that didn’t work.
In this episode of Border Report Live, correspondent Julian discusses his interview with Vasquez. Plus, the government has begun building what will be the “largest detention facility,” also in the El Paso area at Fort Bliss. Officials have confirmed that it will be built on the eastern part of the massive Army post. That’s where Border Report spotted some of he soft-sided tents that have gone up recently.
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