Rep. Yassamin Ansari calls for changes to ‘sickening’ conditions in ICE facilities

PHOENIX — After conducting oversight visits to the Florence Correctional Center and the Eloy Detention Center, U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari is calling for changes to the “sickening” conditions that are “torturing” people in the process.

Ansari visited the Arizona detention facilities on March 13 and again on Friday for oversight and to speak with the detainees after Emmanuel Damas’ death earlier this month.

The U.S. Rep. said Damas’ death was a clear failure at the hands of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as detainees told her Damas was in severe pain and received “fatal” care.

Detainees told Ansari that Damas had a bulge the “size of a potato” around his mouth, due to his untreated toothache.

“He had visible swelling. And it got to the point where he stopped talking and could no longer walk,” Ansari said. “Detainees also reported that Mr. Damas would no longer sleep at night and he would press the medical call button all night, and all that ICE would do is check his blood pressure.

“The day that Mr. Damas was finally taken to (the) hospital was because several detainees stood in front of Mr. Damas’ cell and demanded that he received medical attention. At that point, detainees reported that he could barely breathe and couldn’t speak.”

Ansari has called for a full and independent investigation into his death, including the release of his medical examiner’s report, the timeline of the medical complaints to staff and all medical records related to the care he received in ICE custody.

Ansari visited the Eloy Detention Center and met with Arbella “Yari” Rodriguez Marquez, who has leukemia and has dealt with severe medical neglect for more than a year.

While Rodriguez has now grown dark spots on her back and stomach, which doctors suspect were due to the dirty clothes provided at the facility, there was some encouraging news on the medical care she’s received.

“Yari is getting better medication since our advocacy, and she can now walk with the help of a walker again,” Ansari said. “The ligaments in her arms and legs are still feeling the impacts of months of medical neglect. Outside doctors are still testing her for a variety of conditions such as lupus, lymphedema, leukemia and arthritis.”

The U.S. Rep. also spoke with Maya, a Latvian woman, whose children are now in foster care after her husband died while she has been detained.

Maya has been waiting for a year for proper foot surgery and medication.

“I grew up in the former Soviet Union, it was rough,” Maya told Ansari. “But at least people had a heart. Nobody here at this facility has a heart. They don’t care.”

Ansari also spoke with more than 30 men at the facility’s chapel who confirmed the conditions she heard about from the detainees she spoke with.

“The water from the sinks is chlorinated. Detainees fight for ICE, that they let melt because there is the only source of filtered water,” Ansari said. “A bottle of water costs more than $2, a cost that detainees simply can’t afford.”

A 46-year-old detainee, Felipe, who has lived in Phoenix and paid taxes for more than 20 years and has no criminal record told Ansari he hasn’t been offered any pathways for legal work. He’s working for a U.S. prison at $2 an hour.

Ansari called it “modern-day slavery supported by a failing immigration system” that the current administration isn’t interested in fixing.

“I heard from an Iranian asylum seeker who fled here with his daughter during Iran’s 2022 protest movement — who’s terrified of being sent back to Iran where he could be killed by the regime, but described being treated as ‘animals’ in ICE custody,” Ansari said. “I often wake up with nightmares, sleeping on the floor, wondering, what crime did I commit to be treated like this?

“I heard from a young, LGBTQ+ Russian man who said he’d been threatened with rape if he didn’t sign self-deportation papers.”

The U.S. Rep. gave four next steps following her visit to the Arizona detention facilities:

1. Investigate the death of Emmanuel Damas
2. Separate ICE funding from the rest of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
3. Continue to urge the sponsor of her DRAIN ICE ACT and ICE Detention Act, with aim of improving conditions, oversight and transparency in the detention facilities.
4. Release Yari so she can get the medical treatment she needs

“I will not rest until there is a full, independent investigation and the American people know the truth about what is happening inside ICE detention centers,” Rep. Ansari said. “Every time I visit these detention facilities, it brings me to tears. It’s sickening. It’s traumatizing. It’s deeply un-American.”

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