AURORA – U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper released the following statement after conducting a congressional oversight visit of the GEO ICE facility in Aurora:
“For months, my staff and I have been in touch with many families desperately searching for loved ones arrested by ICE. Yesterday, during a visit to the facility in Aurora, ICE told us we had to submit questions to an email address and informed us they would do their best to respond. That is not good enough.
“I will continue to push for answers to protect our constituents and their families. Every government agency needs to operate with transparency, accountability, and oversight. ICE is no exception.”
During the visit yesterday, Hickenlooper toured the facility and raised concerns with ICE officials regarding delayed communication with congressional offices, irregular process changes, reports of ICE pressuring detainees to voluntarily depart instead of proceeding through a judicial process, and facility conditions.
ICE has recently changed its policy and practices regarding legal communication with detainees, making it significantly more difficult for Hickenlooper’s office, attorneys, and family members to get in contact with detainees held at the GEO ICE facility in Aurora. Hickenlooper also confronted ICE officials about reports of ICE pressuring detainees to self-deport and alarming patterns of detainees being moved without warning, disrupting legal processes and cutting off communication with family, attorneys, and Hickenlooper’s office.
This is one of several congressional oversight visits to the GEO ICE facility in Aurora that Hickenlooper’s office has conducted during his Senate term. Hickenlooper will continue to conduct oversight visits in the coming months.
Hickenlooper has consistently pressed ICE to follow the laws, including due process and humane treatment of detainees. Recently, Hickenlooper introduced the Immigration Enforcement Identification Act to increase transparency, accountability, and safety in immigration law enforcement. This bill prohibits law enforcement officers from obscuring their faces and requires that they clearly display their agency, name, and a unique identifier while conducting immigration enforcement functions. Last month, Hickenlooper joined 22 of his Senate colleagues to call out the Trump administration’s recent efforts to arrest noncriminal immigrants at their immigration court hearings and deport them without adequate due process. In April, Hickenlooper joined 65 other members of Congress to urge Attorney General Pam Bondi to address the impact of the Executive Office for Immigration Review’s (EOIR) alarming decision to fire key judges as the immigration system faces a staggering backlog of cases.
Hickenlooper’s office and team of constituent advocates stand ready to help family members and detainees navigate the immigration system and address communication and process issues with ICE. Get in contact with our office at hickenlooper.senate.gov.
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