CHC Chairman Castro, 84 Members of Congress Urge DHS and ICE to Release Families Together

WASHINGTON — Eighty House Democrats and Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) led by Chairman Joaquin Castro are demanding the Trump administration safely and swiftly release all parents and children that are in immigration family detention centers by July 17. While there is ongoing litigation, the Trump Administration currently has the authority to release families from ICE detention together independently from any court orders. In a letter to Acting Homeland Security Secretary Wolf and Acting Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Albence, the Members of Congress denounced the Trump administration's use of the pandemic to implement cruel and inhumane policies toward immigrants, and urged ICE to seek alternatives to family detention and commit to a permanent policy of family unity.

"We are alarmed to learn that ICE is signaling in court filings that it will not release parents and children together and is instead persisting in pursuing a needlessly cruel approach that will result in family separation," the Members said. "We are also dismayed that ICE has failed to release children with their parents in the multiple weeks that have passed since Judge Gee's June 26 order directing ICE to release children in its facilities. We therefore write to you, once again, to demand that you release all families in ICE detention facilities together immediately.

The letter was signed by CHC Chairman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (NY-10), Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (CA-13), Congressman Ben Ray Luján (NM-3), Congressman Adam Smith (WA-9), Congressman Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Congressman Al Green, (TX-9), Congressman Alan Lowenthal (CA-47), Congressman Albio Sires (NJ-8), Congressman Ami Bera (CA-7), M.D., Congressman Andy Levin (MI-9), Congressman Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-2), Congressman Anthony Brown (MD-4), Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-7), Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-13), Congressman Bill Foster (IL-11), Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. (NJ-9), Congressman Darren Soto (FL-9), Congressman David E. Price (NC-4), Congresswoman Deb Haaland (NM-1), Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12), Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (FL-26), Congressman Donald M. Payne, Jr. (NJ-10), Congressman Earl Blumeanuer (OR-3), Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (District of Columbia), Congressman Filemon Vela (TX-34), Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-6), Congresswoman Frederica Wilson (FL-24), Congressman Gilbert R. Cisneros, Jr. (CA-39) Congresswoman Grace F. Napolitano (CA-32), Congresswoman Grace Meng (NY-6), Congressman Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr. (GA-4), Congressman J. Luis Correa (CA-46), Congresswoman Jahana Hayes (CT-5), Congressman James P. McGovern (MA-2), Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-8), Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (IL-9), Congressman Jared Huffman (CA-2), Congressman Jason Crow (CO-6), Congressman Jesús G. "Chuy" Garcia (IL-4), Congressman Jim Costa (CA-16), Congressman Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), Congressman Jimmy Panetta (CA-20), Congressman José E. Serrano (NY-15), Congressman Juan Vargas (CA-51), Congresswoman Julia Brownley (CA-26), Congresswoman Linda T. Sánchez (CA-38), Congressman Lloyd Doggett (TX-35), Congresswoman Madeleine Dean (PA-4), Congressman Marc Veasey (TX-33), Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-9), Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11), Congressman Mark Pocan (WI-2), Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11), Congresswoman Nanette Diaz Barragán (CA-44), Congresswoman Norma J. Torres (CA-35), Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez (NY-7), Congressman Pete Aguilar (CA-31), Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (WA-7), Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-13), Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-3), Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3), Congressman Ruben Gallego (AZ-7), Congresswoman Susan A. Davis (CA-53), Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (OR-1), Congresswoman Sylvia R. Garcia (TX-29), Congressman Ted W. Lieu (CA-33), Congressman Tony Cárdenas (CA-29), Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Congresswoman Angie Craig (MN-2), Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Congressman Cedric L. Richmond (LA-2), Congressman David Trone (MD-8), Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (MO-5), Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (MN-5), Congresswoman Jackie Speier (CA-14), Congressman James R. Langevin (RI-2), Congressman Mark Takano (CA-41), Congressman Mike Quigley (IL-5), Congressman Ro Khanna (CA-17), Congressman Salud O. Carbajal (CA-24), Congressman Sean Casten (IL-6), Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan (PA-6), and Congressman Mike Doyle (PA-18).

Read the full letter below and here.

Dear Acting Secretary Wolf and Acting Director Albence:

On June 30, 80 Members of Congress wrote to you to demand that families held at all three Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) family detention centers be swiftly, safely, and promptly released together ahead of a court order to release all children in ICE facilities by July 17. We understand that that deadline has now been extended to July 27.

We are alarmed to learn that ICE is signaling in court filings that it will not release parents and children together and is instead persisting in pursuing a needlessly cruel approach that will result in family separation. We are also dismayed that ICE has failed to release children with their parents in the multiple weeks that have passed since Judge Gee's June 26 order directing ICE to release children in its facilities. We therefore write to you, once again, to demand that you release all families in ICE detention facilities together immediately.

In her June 26 order mandating ICE to release all children detained at its three family detention centers, District Court Judge Dolly Gee described how these facilities are "on fire," and concluded that "there is no more time for half-measures."[1] In the months since the COVID-19 pandemic has hit, the virus has ravaged ICE detention centers: over 3,000 people detained have tested positive for COVID-19,[2] and experts estimate that ICE may be seriously underestimating the true spread of the virus.[3]

Family detention facilities are no exception: in the Karnes County Residential Center, 34 parents and children of approximately 100 detained have tested positive for COVID-19.[4] Meanwhile, in the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Members of Congress who toured the facility were potentially exposed to a staff member who tested positive for COVID-19 shortly after their visit. Advocates and service providers have described how ICE is continuing to fail to take steps to prevent contagion in these family detention facilities, continuing to permit infected employees to come to work, and engaging in arbitrary contact-tracing and quarantine practices.

Since the COVID-19 crisis started, Members of Congress, advocates, attorneys and doctors have repeatedly urged ICE to use the ample discretion and authority it has to release detained families together. ICE's authority and discretion to release those in its custody long predates the pandemic, but the agency has nonetheless continued to implement cruel and inhumane policies toward immigrants, despite the exacerbated risks the pandemic poses to those in detention. Per a status report filed with the district court on July 8, ICE has prepared documents that would obtain information regarding possible sponsors for detained children upon their release. This suggests that the agency does not plan to release children with their parents and is instead pursuing a cruel plan to separate them or subject them to prolonged and harmful detention.[5]

Both family detention and of family separation have long been seriously criticized by medical and mental health experts for the trauma they inflict on children and their parents.[6] The powerful evidence documenting the harm of these practices only underscores the urgency of ending both immediately.

Release of these families has taken on additional urgency because of recent court decisions declaring unlawful a Trump administration policy banning asylum for people who transited through third countries on their way to the United States.[7] We have heard from the attorneys representing many of the detained families that most of them were wrongfully denied a chance to seek asylum because they were subject to this ban, which is now longer in effect. The families must now be afforded a fair chance to seek asylum and should be paroled from detention during their asylum proceedings.

We demand that you cease inflicting needless heartache and cruelty upon the hundreds of parents and children in your detention facilities, many of whom came to the United States in search of safety and freedom and have instead been met with prolonged, indefinite detention. ICE has discretion to release these families together, as it regularly has in the past. By choosing not to do so now, it is choosing cruelty.

As the court's extended deadline for release of children quickly approaches, we urge you to release children together with their parents. Preserving the unity of these families is in these children's best interests, and it is also the right and compassionate thing to do. Family separation is a moral stain on this chapter of American history. This administration must not use COVID-19 as an opportunity to revisit it.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

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The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), founded in December 1976, is organized as a Congressional Member organization, governed under the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives. The CHC is dedicated to voicing and advancing, through the legislative process, issues affecting Hispanics in the United States, Puerto Rico and U.S. Territories.