Arizona Democrats make 2nd surprise visit to ‘inhumane’ ICE facility at Mesa airport

Arizona U.S. Reps. Yassamin Ansari and Greg Stanton recently made their second surprise visit to the federal immigration detention facility at Mesa Gateway Airport.

“Members of Congress have the authority to conduct unannounced oversight visits to ICE detention centers and facilities, and we’ll keep exercising that authority,” Ansari said in a news release. “The inhumane and deeply troubling conditions we witnessed Tuesday night and again during our April 9 visit are starkly different from the picture ICE presents during scheduled visits.”

Tuesday’s visit came after the Arizona Mirror published a story about the use of pepper spray on 47 detainees at the overcrowded Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding facility at the East Valley airport. According to the report, ICE officers called 911 and reported a safety issue after the pepper spray was deployed.

Stanton called the conditions he witnessed this week “alarming.”

“Overcrowding, pepper spray incidents and medical neglect aren’t acceptable under any circumstances. Arizonans have been clear that they oppose this administration’s mass deportation agenda, and we’re going to fight every effort to expand it — including the kinds of dangerous, overcrowded operations we’ve seen right here in Mesa,” he said in the release.

Democrats want answers about pepper spray at Mesa ICE facility

Ansari, Stanton and fellow Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva sent a letter last week to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and acting ICE Director Todd Lyons seeking answers about the use of pepper spray at the Mesa Gateway detention center.

After the three Democrats visited the airport facility in April, they reported seeing 40-50 people crammed into rooms with a posted maximum capacity of 21.

It prompted Stanton to introduce a bill to restore a 12-hour limit for holds at short-term custody and processing centers.

Mesa Gateway Airport has been a hub for ICE deportations for years. Avelo Airlines stopped making federal deportation flights from Gateway in January, eight months after the budget carrier started them.

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