U.S. Rep. Kelly Morrison Cosponsors Bill to Ban ICE Warehouse Detention Facilities

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Representative Kelly Morrison (MN-03) is cosponsoring the Ban Warehouse Detention Act, which would ban Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from converting industrial warehouses into immigration detention centers.

The Trump Administration plans to spend almost $40 billion turning warehouses across the country into ICE detention facilities that could detain up to 100,000 people - including in Minnesota. This legislation would prevent this by prohibiting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), from establishing, operating, expanding, converting, or renovating any warehouse or similar building or structure for the purposes of detaining people.

Over the last several months, Representative Morrison has conducted oversight of the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis and the Camp East Montana Detention Facility in El Paso. Camp East Montana is the largest detention facility in the nation, and thousands of Minnesotans have been detained there by ICE. As a physician, Rep. Morrison has been especially concerned about reports of a dangerous lack of medical care and equipment at these ICE detention facilities, as well as overcrowding, shackling, denial of medical care, and other inhumane conditions.

"What I witnessed at Whipple and Camp East Montana was cruel, disturbing, and should not be tolerated in the United States of America," said Congresswoman Kelly Morrison. "We cannot allow the Trump Administration to use $40 billion taxpayer dollars to expand their cruel and inhumane mass encampments across the country. The Ban Warehouse Detention Act is about defending constitutional and human rights, as well as the moral compass of our nation. Minnesotans have fought back against these proposed detention centers and won. Now it's time for Congress to act and put an end to this on a national level."

Minnesotans across the state have been outspoken in their opposition to ICE's plans to turn warehouses into detention facilities and have successfully blocked plans in Woodbury and Shakopee - but the Trump Administration continues to expand its warehouse detention policy across the country.

The Ban Warehouse Detention Act is led by Representative Jesús "Chuy" García (IL-04), Representative Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), and Representative Delia Ramirez (IL-03), and co-sponsored by Reps. Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Danny Davis (IL-07), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Dan Goldman (NY-10), Al Green (TX-09), Adelita Grijalva (AZ-07), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), April McClain Delaney (MD-06), Andrea Salinas (OR-06), and Shri Thanedar (MI-13).

This legislation was drafted in partnership with Detention Watch Network and is endorsed by nearly 100 advocacy and rights groups, including: Acacia Center for Justice, Adhikaar for Human Rights & Social Justice, Alianza Nacional de Campesinos, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Angelica Village, Arab American Heritage Council (AAHC), Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Asian Americans Advancing Justice- Atlanta, Ayuda, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, Borderlands Resource Initiative, Californians United for a Responsible Budget, Center for Constitutional Rights, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, Center for Law and Social Policy, Center for Progressive Reform, Center for Victims of Torture, Church World Service, Climate Refugees, Climate Sanctuary, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), Coalition on Human Needs, the Coming Clean Network, Communities United for Status & Protection, Congregation B'nai Israel Tikkun Olam/Repair the World Committee, Democratic Socialist of America , El Refugio, Esperanza Cuautle, Families for Freedom, Flint Alliance for Immigrant Rights (FAIR), Florida Immigrant Coalition, Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution, Freedom for Immigrants, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR), Grassroots Leadership, Haitian Bridge Alliance, Hindus for Human Rights Action, Human Rights First, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef), Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Immigrant Resource Center, Immigration Equality Action Fund, Indiana Undocumented Youth Alliance, Indivisible, Indivisible Mass Coalition-Immigration Justice Action Team, Innovation Law Lab, Jewish Activists for Immigration Justice, Jewish Activists for Immigration Justice of Western Mass, Just Detention International, Latin American Working Group, Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention, Metro Detroit DSA, Miami Valley Immigration Coalition, Migrant Support Collective, Minnesota Interfaith Coalition on Immigration, MN8, MoveOn, Muslim Advocates, Muslims for Just Futures, National Immigrant Justice Center, National Immigration Law Center, National Network for Arab American Communities, National Partnership for New Americans, Never Again Action, New Disabled South, New Mexico Dream Team, NM Comunidades En Accion Y de Fe (NM CAFe), No Concentration Camps US, No Detention Centers in Michigan, NorCal Resist, Oasis Legal Services, Organized Communities Against Deportations, Popular Democracy, Rise Up Western Mass Indivisible, SHUT DOWN ETOWAH, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), Southern NH Indivisible, State Wide Indivisible Michigan, The Sikh Coalition, Tsuru for Solidarity, UndocuBlack Network, United We Dream Network, Verta Institute of Justice, Voices for Utah Children, Voto Latino, We are CASA, Western Massachusetts Immigration Legislative Action Network (WMILAN), Wind of the Spirit, and Witness at the Border.

Watch a video of Representative Morrison's remarks on this bill HERE.

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Read a transcript of Representative Morrison's remarks below:

At the height of Operation Metro Surge, thousands of Minnesotans were being held at Camp East Montana, the largest detention facility in the country.

I visited Camp East Montana last month and I have to tell you as a physician, what is happening there is appalling.

Detainees are being denied medications, pregnant women are going without prenatal care, and people are crammed together in windowless rooms on metal bunkbeds, and only allowed outside for five hours a week.

This has to stop, and that's why I'm introducing a bill to ban these massive warehouse detention centers.

Camp East Montana is only one, and these facilities are all over the country.

There is no reason why ICE should be allowed to spend MORE taxpayer dollars to treat people inhumanely.

The country is watching, and Congress needs to act.

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