Federal immigration officials in Texas prevented US representative Veronica Escobar from fully conducting her congressional oversight duties at a controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center, the lawmaker said in an interview with the Guardian. Escobar, a Democrat who represents El Paso and surrounding areas on the US-Mexico border in west Texas, conducted an oversight visit last month at the Camp East Montana ICE tent facility housed in the Fort Bliss military base, after two separate “disturbances” had been reported there in recent weeks. But when she arrived to scrutinize conditions at the camp, the largest ICE detention center in the country, she said she was not allowed to speak with any of the detained immigrants.
She also requested surveillance footage of the reported incidents but said she has not received it. And that has depended on, to a large extent, what the directive has been from the administration.” The constraints placed on Escobar is one of the latest instances in which the Trump administration has limited members of Congress’s ability to conduct oversight visits into federal immigration detention centers. Escobar and other federal lawmakers sued the Trump administration last year for blocking such access.
Despite a federal judge ruling in favor of the lawmakers last December, there have been subsequent reports of ICE officials placing limits on or turning away members of congress when attempting to conduct oversight visits. Camp East Montana was hastily constructed last summer at the huge army base in El Paso. Unlike other ICE detention centers housed in buildings, this facility is a sprawling “soft-sided” tent camp.
It has the capacity to hold up to 5,000 people and has drawn complaints and demands for its closure from the time it opened. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, reported two separate “disturbances” within one week there in early September. On 1 September, it alleged that detained immigrants assaulted security staff by striking, kicking and throwing tablets at them.
On 7 September, a larger group of around 130 detained immigrants allegedly threw items, flipped furniture and disabled security cameras. The detainees also knocked down partitions between the tented living quarters, known as pods, at the detention camp, Escobar said. An ICE official at the facility called 911 during the incident, according to reporting by the El Paso Times.
The newspaper’s revelation contradicted what ICE officials apparently told Escobar during her visit. It is still unclear what exactly happened during the two incidents. Members of Congress have the legal power to conduct oversight visits into ICE detention facilities nationwide, by visiting the sites without prior notice and speaking with detained immigrants.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
