STATEMENT: Homeland Security Vice Ranking Member Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (IL-03) Calls on Biden Administration to Halt Reported Reinstatement of Migrant Family Detention Centers Ahead of President’s FY2024 Budget Request

Washington, DC - Today, Homeland Security Vice Ranking Member Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (IL-03) released the following statement after reporting from the New York Times that the Biden Administration is considering reinstatement of migrant detention centers two days ahead of the anticipated FY2024 Presidential Budget Request: 

“We need to uphold the right to seek asylum without the cruel practice of immigration detention - full stop,” said Homeland Security Vice Ranking Member Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (IL-03). “People are leaving behind everything and everyone they know, risking starvation, physical harm, rape, and death to make the journey to our border with the hope of escaping deep poverty, and in many cases persecution. I strongly urge the Biden Administration to reduce its reliance on immigration detention - including refuting the reports about reinstating family detention and formally ending the policy of family detention altogether. It’s critical that we adopt alternatives to detention that are not implemented by ICE, and for this shift to be reflected in the President’s FY2024 Budget Request. There is no shortage of evidence that our border enforcement policies center surveillance, compliance and incarceration - particularly of Black and Brown immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees. Instead, we can and we must coordinate access to community-based resources. The horrific reporting of reinstating detention of migrant families, of migrant children seeking asylum being exploited in dangerous, labor-intensive jobs with no protections, and of mass hunger strikes in ICE detention facilities underscores what could not be more clear: we need transformative, comprehensive immigration reform and we need it now.” 

Congresswoman Delia Ramirez serves the 3rd Congressional District of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives. She is the daughter of working-class immigrants and the only Member of Congress in a mixed-status marriage. She serves on the Committee of Homeland Security as Vice Ranking Member and the Committee on Veterans Affairs.