Both lawmakers blasted what they said is ICE’s patently unlawful interference with Congress’ ability to conduct oversight of federal agencies.
“It’s totally illegal and totally a violation,” Stanton told reporters at a Phoenix press conference Friday afternoon, an hour after being turned away at Eloy. “This cannot stand. The law has to be followed.”
Members of Congress have the right to conduct random, unannounced oversight of immigration facilities like Eloy Detention Center, which is owned and operated by private prison company CoreCivic. Ansari did just that in late May, receiving a three-hour tour and meeting with several detainees. She brought back horror stories — and bad publicity for ICE — about overcrowding and cruel conditions.
But in June, after several such unannounced visits from Democrats at ICE facilities across the country, the Department of Homeland Security released a new policy requiring members of Congress to provide a week's notice before visiting any facility. Essentially, surprise inspections were no longer allowed, despite what the law says.
In a statement to Phoenix New Times on July 2, Ansari criticized the “unlawful guidance” as a “blatant attempt to block oversight and hide abuses in detention centers.” Despite the new guidance, Ansari said she’d continue to conduct oversight.
“It is outrageous and illegal to try to stop Members of Congress from doing our jobs,” she wrote.
Ansari planned a Saturday visit to Eloy to visit three detainees: 39-year-old Arbella Rodríguez Márquez, whose partner says has leukemia and has lost 55 pounds since being detained; a detainee Ansari identified only as Rafael, who she said was coughing up blood; and a detainee named Katherine, whom Ansari met during her first visit to the facility.
Initially, an ICE assistant field director for the Phoenix field office told Ansari's team that she was “cleared to speak” with Katherine after submitting the necessary paperwork. However, her requests to speak with Márquez and Rafael, the latter of whom was no longer in custody in Eloy, were denied. According to emails shared with reporters, Ansari’s meeting with Márquez was denied due to an invalid “privacy waiver.” Ansari said her staff asked for more information, but did not receive a clarification from ICE.
Ansari was granted permission to tour the facility, but nothing more. Because she’d had the same tour less than two months prior, she decided not to make the trip.
“We gave them the required notice, we submitted the forms and yet we were still denied meetings with constituents,” Ansari said in a virtual press conference Thursday. “We are very concerned that this sets an extremely dangerous precedent.”
Rep. Yassamin Ansari inspected Eloy Detention Center in May but was denied the same access last weekend.
Morgan Fischer
Stanton turned away
Friday, Stanton did make the trip, but he was denied at the door because he did not provide seven days' notice. At the door, Stanton handed Eloy staff a copy of the law that empowers members of Congress to conduct oversight, which Stanton said they photocopied. Still, the staff did not let Stanton enter.The law states that DHS cannot “require a Member of Congress to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility … for the purpose of conducting oversight.”
“That’s an illegal refusal to not allow me to enter the detention center,” Stanton said. “It’s very disturbing that DHS would make this determination that somehow we have to provide a week’s notice.”
Stanton had hoped to meet with small business owner Kelly Yu, who has been detained since May and is currently being housed at Eloy. Yu fled China when she was 18 and pregnant over the country’s one-child policy, making her home in the Valley and opening Kawaii Sushi in Peoria. She sought asylum in 2004 but has been denied several times, the last time in 2016. She married her husband, who is a U.S. citizen, last year. ICE detained her when she arrived at a monthly meeting with immigration officials.
“My wife is not a threat to anyone,” Yu’s husband, Aldo Urquiza, told reporters at Stanton’s press conference.
Stanton added: “She’s an outstanding member of this community. She is exactly why we need comprehensive immigration reform.”
Stanton said he plans to go back to the facility to visit Yu after filing the paperwork required by DHS. He’s “not required to do that under law, but I’m going to do it anyway to eliminate any excuse they may have to delay or deny my oversight responsibilities,” he said. Ansari also said this is “a top priority for my office,” and she’ll continue working to meet with detainees.
Both Ansari and Stanton were directed to a generic ICE Office of Congressional Relations email by ICE staff to express their concerns. Stanton also said his office made several calls to DHS and ICE’s congressional affairs offices, but “nobody answered the phones.”
ICE and CoreCivic did not immediately respond to New Times’ request for comment.
“This is not how oversight is supposed to work,” Ansari said. “But sadly, this is exactly how things operate under the Trump administration.”
