Rep. Morrison compares El Paso ICE detention facility to livestock building
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
U.S. Rep. Kelly Morrison, D-Minn., is back in Washington, D.C., after an unannounced oversight visit to the Camp East Montana immigration detention facility in El Paso, Texas. A number of Minnesotans detained by ICE have been sent there.
Morrison, a doctor, joined Cathy Wurzer on Morning Edition to describe the conditions and her stance on funding the Department of Homeland Security, which is shut down as lawmakers spar over funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The following has been lightly edited for clarity and length. Listen to the full conversation by clicking the player button above.
You had trouble getting access to the Whipple federal building in Minnesota. Was it different in El Paso?
It was actually pretty similar to my experience at Whipple. I arrived to the Camp East Montana Detention Center — which is the largest in the nation, it can hold 5,000 human beings — and I was met by security that had been subcontracted out to a private firm. They stalled and delayed, and I just persisted and insisted that, as a member of Congress, it is the law that I'm able to perform oversight at taxpayer-funded detention facilities. And eventually, they let me in about an hour after I got there. So it was an unannounced visit, but like at Whipple, they stalled long enough so they had time to prepare.
Turn Up Your Support
MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all.
Unlike Whipple, these are tent structures?
What I saw there was really horrifying. They are massive tent structures that, if you look at the aerial photos of them, look like a commercial livestock building. So I was allowed into one of these huge tent facilities. They would not let me speak with any detainee, would not let me speak with my constituents, but they let me into one of the buildings that was empty. So it's this endless hallway when you enter it with locked doors on either side that lead into what they call pods. And these pods hold between 64 and 72 human beings. They have metal bunk beds crammed together on either side of this room. There are metal tables with metal stools in the middle. There's a bank of showers with doors that kind of cover your midsection. There are toilets and there are about six sinks.
And this is where 64 human beings spend all day and all night. Their meals are brought to them in these facilities in “satellite feeding,” which also is reminiscent of a livestock building to me. There are no windows. I'm haunted by imagining what it would be like to be a detainee in this facility. The fear, the isolation and also the zero privacy at any time, the lack of access to the outside world and the unknown of what will become of you.
Is this the same place as the measles outbreak?
They have reported measles outbreaks. They've also had tuberculosis in this facility. They told me they currently have one measles case that is being isolated, and they were testing another detainee and didn't have the results yet.
And as a physician, what do you think of this?
Well, one of the reasons I wanted to see it — because I think it's incredibly important that we shine a light on what is happening in our country, in our name, using our taxpayer dollars — is to understand what the health conditions are in this facility. And there have been reports coming out of Camp East Montana of people being unable to access the medications they need.
I have a constituent who's being held there who has diabetes, who's reporting to his family that he's not able to get the medication he needs. I was told by one of the medical people in the facility that they had pill lines where people were allowed to line up twice a day. He said they were working on getting to three times a day, which doesn't make any sense, because some medications have to be taken three times a day.
It's just chaotic, it's inhumane, and I think it's so important that people consider that this is just the beginning. There are plans to spend almost $40 billion to build camps and detention centers just like this all across the country, with a goal to hold almost 100,000 people at a time.
Since you couldn't talk to your constituents, could you at least pass them a note?
I asked four times to see them. I was very insistent that I had traveled from Minnesota to see my constituents. I'm a member of Congress, I should be able to talk to my constituents. They wouldn't allow that, and so I said, “Can I leave them a note so that they know I was here inquiring about them, and so that they know who their member of Congress is? And then can sign a privacy release form if they want to be in contact with me.” They would not let me leave them a note because they told me it would be too hard to find them.
They currently said they had 900 detainees, and when people arrive at Camp East Montana, they're given a wristband with a QR code on it to track them. So I know that wasn't true. But if it is true, that's even more alarming, if they don't even know where the people that they are detaining are within the facility.
Are the conditions playing into your decision to withhold money from ICE that's leading to the big standoff in Washington?
Absolutely, after what happened to us in Minnesota, we cannot let this go unanswered. This entire operation needs to be paused. We cannot give ICE any more money until this stops.
