Jayapal Statement on Planned Closure of Camp East Montana

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Ranking Member of the Immigration, Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee, released the following statement regarding reporting that Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, will be closing.

"Camp East Montana has been the site of multiple deaths of detained persons - including the death of Geraldo Lunas Campos, who other detained persons say they saw guards choke to death. It is also rampant with complaints of inadequate medical care, rotten food, foul-smelling water, and overcrowding. I led a letter with Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16) last week calling for this horrific facility to be closed, and I am glad to hear that it will be.

"This is overdue and necessary. We must continue fighting to end the mass incarceration of immigrants at these prison camps across the country. Since Trump returned to office, 40 people have died in immigration detention. Trump said he would go after the 'worst of the worst,' yet over 70 percent of people in immigration detention have no criminal record. The vast majority of people in these facilities should not be detained. If it is a question of compliance with immigration proceedings, there are proven, humane alternatives to detention with high success rates of 99 percent. These people are only detained to pad the profits of the private prison companies bankrolling Republican election campaigns.

"Camp East Montana must close. As must all of the private, for-profit prisons that are raking in taxpayer dollars by depriving immigrants of the basic necessities for survival."

Issues: Immigration