At around 5am, after voting all night, Senate Republicans voted to give ICE $70 BILLION more in your taxpayer dollars. No reforms or changes made. We can still fight this.
I’m leaving the Capitol now at 530am after 19 hrs of votes where Senate Republicans passed $70B for ICE/CBP with no accountability after killings of Alex Pretti/Renee Good and no reforms after chaos at Delaney Hall. Zero dollars to help your family pay bills and high gas prices.
What I saw inside Delaney Hall was unjust. It was cruel.
That’s why I’m fighting to get an audit done immediately and improve conditions.
No more taxpayer dollars to fund this lawlessness.
New Jersey lawmakers are fighting back against the brutalization of immigrants detained at Newark’s Delaney Hall.
“The cruelty is intentional,” Sen. Andy Kim tells Rolling Stone. https://t.co/xO9JBNjI9N
I'm back at the Capitol to advocate for New Jersey because what I saw at Delaney Hall is out right disturbing.
Here are three things we can do to make things better for detainees and their families.
Sen. Andy Kim: "It's a choice. Delaney Hall is run by GEO Group. GEO Group is getting a nearly $1 billion contract to run Delaney Hall. They tell me there is one full-time doctor for 800 detainees. They could have more doctors if they wanted to, but that's cutting into their profits."
Today, I led a NJ delegation letter demanding that Secretary Mullin and Acting Attorney General Blanche take action to immediately end the inhumane conditions at Delaney Hall and ICE's retaliatory tactics against detainees and advocates. What I saw there earlier this week and continue to see is absolutely unacceptable. Delaney Hall must be shut down immediately.
I want you to hear straight from me about what happened at Delaney Hall on Monday and what I saw inside the facility.
ICE out of control. GEO Group profiting off of human misery. People living in inhumane conditions.
Let me walk you through it.
My office has received multiple calls today alleging use of pepper spray and physical force against detainees inside Delaney Hall. If true, these actions must stop immediately and demand accountability.
ICE and GEO Group have a responsibility to keep detainees safe; they’ve instead refused to let State health officials conduct full inspections and have repeatedly stood in the way of Congressional oversight.
The people inside Delaney Hall deserve their day in court and to be treated humanely, not violently. The time is now to shut this broken facility down. –AK
Secretary Mullin said I shouldn't have been at Delaney Hall, but I disagree.
This isn't about me. This is about the detainees and their families, the lawlessness we're seeing from ICE.
I was willing to take a risk and I'd do it all over again to keep people safe.
For GEO Group, the company that runs the Delaney Hall detention facility, it’s all about profit over people.
What I saw there this weekend was absolutely corrupt and cruel.
My heart broke to see Americans fighting Americans in our streets yesterday. As I saw ICE agents tackling civilians and firing pepper balls into the crowd, I was overwhelmed by how broken we’ve become. We cannot normalize this violence. Here’s what happened at Delaney Hall: THREAD
I saw chaos inside and outside of the ICE detention center Delaney Hall today. Detainees protesting the lack of due process, the disgusting food and poor treatment while their families and advocates stood outside calling for help. Instead of engaging with me and others about the poor conditions, ICE sent in an armored vehicle and a line of armed agents that only poured gasoline on the fire. Civilians were tackled and restrained, and agents fired pepper balls and spray into the crowd. This is more of the same lawlessness we’ve seen elsewhere around the country. Our country deserves accountability. Our country deserves the humane treatment of every person here. In fact, our Constitution demands this. What I witnessed and experienced today was shameful. Delaney Hall is a failure; it’s this administration’s failure. The only way to make this right for our communities is to shut it down and make sure the failures we’ve seen never happen again.
A thanks to Brent and the press corps who’ve told the story of what’s going on at Delaney Hall. This isn’t about Andy, it’s about an incredibly broken system used to generate insane profit for corporations like GEO Group. A system that must be changed.
I spoke to U.S. Sen. Andy Kim about what happened at Delaney Hall today — including getting pepper sprayed — and Republicans’ criticism that it was a stunt.
I’m back at Delaney Hall with @GovSherrillNJ and other members of the NJ delegation to meet with families of detainees and listen to community advocates. We’re working together to make sure they’re heard and to speak out with them. Delaney Hall must be shut down immediately. ICE cannot be allowed to continue operating in this way.