Senator Murphy Denied Access To DHS Detention Facilities In Texas, Witnesses ICE Lawlessness At Immigration Court, Meets With Detainee Children And Their Families

SAN ANTONIO, TX-U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, this week traveled to San Antonio, Texas, to conduct oversight of the facilities DHS is using to detain individuals and families targeted by the Trump administration's lawless enforcement operations. Despite Murphy's constitutional and statutory right as a member of Congress to access federal buildings to ensure federal agencies are acting in compliance with the law, DHS illegally blocked Murphy from entering facilities in Dilley, Texas, and Pearsall, Texas. Murphy met with recent Dilley detainees, heard about inhumane conditions within the facility, and visited the San Antonio immigration court, where he personally witnessed ICE's targeting of individuals with legal status and pending asylum claims.

Outside Dilley Federal Detention facility, Murphy emphasized that DHS is illegally stonewalling Congressional oversight: "Members of Congress have a constitutional right to inspect these facilities, and a clear statutory right as well… This is astonishing. And it tells you these guys have something to hide. If they're not letting members of Congress in with less than seven days' notice, it tells you how much work they know they need to do to cover up and hide the things they don't want us to see… The fact they denied me access even with 24 hours' notice, should make everybody deeply, deeply fearful of what is happening inside this facility and facilities like it."

Murphy shared the harrowing story of children subjected to horrifying conditions and a monthslong detention at DHS' Dilley facility, despite having a pending asylum claim: "These kids have had scarring from this experience that is likely never, ever going away… They were in the United States legally, and they got ripped out of the courtroom and put in detention because it has nothing to do with human beings. It just has to do with numbers and terrorizing families… Beyond the numbers, beyond the policy, this is about kids' lives, kids' brains, who are being fundamentally damaged and changed by the inhumanity of Donald Trump's immigration policy."

At the San Antonio immigration court, Murphy debunked Trump's claim ICE is targeting the "worst of the worst" criminals: "What I saw was stunning, unconscionable… In these courtrooms, you have immigrants who are obeying the law, who are here legally, they're showing up to their appointment largely to apply for asylum. It's all fake, because the real law is happening in the hallways, where there were this morning about a half dozen ICE officers in plain clothes… waiting for these people to come out from their hearings, and then they take them and send them into detention for immediate removal out of the United States, even though they have a pending claim, even though they have no criminal history, no arrest history. This is what's happening inside of these facilities."

Providing a firsthand account of conversations with ICE officers, he continued: "I got to talk to the ICE officers. I said, 'Who are you prioritizing?' Their answer: 'everyone.' I said, 'Wait, I thought you were prioritizing criminals?' They said, 'No, we're looking for anyone that walks in to legally present themselves before the court, and we're putting them into detention'…What you are seeing is the systemic hourly violation of the law. Trump is making up his own law. People that are playing by the rules are being put into detention. This has nothing to do with people who are violent. This has nothing to do with targeting criminals. This is just creating an entirely new body of law where might makes right, or even if you show up and do everything you are asked, you're going to still find yourself in detention and on your way out of the country."