Rep. Yassamin Ansari says ICE was allowed to ignore detainee limits for a year

Rep. Yassamin Ansari conducted an unannounced oversight visit Wednesday at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Phoenix Field Office, where said she discovered that the Department of Homeland Security had quietly waived time and capacity limits at detention facilities nationwide for roughly a year.

This is her 13th oversight visit at an ICE facility.

“Up until a couple of months ago, DHS from the highest levels had sent down a waiver to every single ICE facility across the United States to say that it’s okay if the time limit for someone being held somewhere, the capacity limits are broken, and that waiver no longer exists,” Ansari said. “It was removed.”

She added that she plans to follow up in writing to determine whether the change coincided with the departure of former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

The Phoenix facility is designed to hold people for no more than 12 hours before they are transferred to longer-term detention centers or deported. It has a capacity of 155. Ansari said 29 people were being held during her visit, and no medical staff was on site.

The visit was in response to reporting by the Arizona Mirror. The news outlet found that 11 calls were made 11 calls were made to 911 from the facility between December 2025 and March 2026 for medical emergencies including seizures and fainting.

“We know that rules have been broken and norms have been broken left and right,” Ansari said after her visit. “We know that people are being treated incredibly inhumanely, that there is a severe lack of access to quality medical care, that there is medical neglect.”

Ansari said more than 52 people have died in ICE custody nationally since January 2025, including Emmanuel Damas, who died at an Arizona facility from what began as a toothache.

Deacon calls for bipartisan action on ICE detention conditions

Deacon Joe Stickney, a leader with the Valley Interfaith Project who has served at St. Louis the King Catholic Church in Glendale for 22 years, also spoke at the news conference. He shared the story of a family in his parish who were detained by ICE after showing up to a court-appointed asylum hearing and called for bipartisan action on detention conditions.

“This is not about political parties. It’s a question of human dignity,” Stickney said. “As leaders with Valley Interfaith Project, we invite representatives from both parties to come together for the protection of human dignity, to take action to ensure that the facilities like this one are not allowed to become human cages.”

Ansari said members of Congress are no longer permitted to speak with detainees during oversight visits.