Hispanic congressmen Nydia Velázquez and Adriano Espaillat tried to visit the Lower Manhattan detention center on Sunday, where ICE (the United States immigration and customs control service) keeps immigrants they arrested, but both politicians were rejected after an hour of waiting.
As congressmen, they have the authority to inspect these federal facilities, but the denial of entry that occurred on June 8 left them outraged by the situation of the country in the midst of numerous ICE raids throughout the USA.
“This is not Russia,” said Velázquez during a press conference on the outskirts of the facilities at the number 26 of Federal Plaza.
Both Velázquez and Espaillat tried to access an alleged immigrant detention center located on the tenth floor to verify the conditions, but federal agents prevented them.
«The president of the United States is not a king, and we, as members of Congress, have the proper constitutional responsibility to exercise supervision in a place like this. What do they hide? Well, they hide anything because we know what is happening! ”Velazquez said on the outskirts of the Federal Square.
«They are stopping people who follow the rules, people who disappear. They say goodbye to their families because they come here, and suddenly, their families know nothing about what is happening to them. This is outrageous ».
The elected officials arrived around 3 pm on Sunday, June 8. They were prevented from entering for about 15 minutes and faced with security agents until they were finally allowed to enter alone, without any member of their staff.
However, once inside, they kept them in the main lobby until they were informed that they would not be allowed to visit the floor in question.
“They said they would not allow us to climb, that it is an ICE installation and a sensitive center. But as I mentioned before, we have even been in detention centers where, in fact, they had isolation rooms, very sensitive rooms, and allowed us to enter and we could exercise our supervision functions,” said Espaillat.
Ambush to immigrants
This occurs after a week of disturbances during which people attending immigration audiences were ambushed and worsened from the courts of the court.
In response, protests against the climbing of arrests of ICE have intensified, which has resulted in mass arrests while New Yorkers try to prevent immigrants from being expelled from the building.
Make the Road New York’s immigration lawyer, Rachel Levenson, says he has witnessed the arrests in person and has described them as chilling that they have caused nightmares.
“What is happening right now is really shocking and chilling,” said Levenson. “These people are doing exactly what they are supposed to do and are disappearing. I saw this, and I just want to say that I have had nightmares all week, and you should also have them.”
Both Velázquez and Espaillat claim to believe that the constitutional rights of people arrested by ICE are being violated. They said they would use the power of Congress to deny Trump funds for any of its objectives.
“I will vote against any money for this type of inhuman treatment of people with rights. The fact that you are an undocumented person does not make you a criminal. How many charges was Donald Trump convicted? And he is president of the United States,” said Velázquez.
