Tlaib Conducts Oversight Visit at North Lake Detention Facility in Baldwin, Michigan

DETROIT — Today, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, conducted an oversight visit of the notorious North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan—the largest ICE immigration detention center in the Midwest, where over 1,400 of our immigrant neighbors are currently being held hundreds of miles away from their families and communities.

A two-year contract between ICE and the for-profit private prison company GEO Group re-opened the North Lake detention facility in June, undermining a hard-won victory for Michigan communities and civil rights advocates who had fought to close this infamous facility that had been the site of multiple deaths and widespread systemic abuses against detainees.

Congresswoman Tlaib’s office has received many concerning reports from family members and advocates about conditions at North Lake, including frigid temperatures, inadequate food, unsanitary facilities, difficulties accessing attorneys and loved ones, translation and communication issues, and problems obtaining medical care. Congresswoman Tlaib traveled to North Lake for a tour of the complex to conduct critical fact-finding and to hold local and national ICE and GEO Group officials accountable. She gathered vital information to share with legal advocates and family members as they work towards securing the release of our community members. Congresswoman Tlaib also had the opportunity to meet with a 19-year-old constituent who was recently taken from his family, and experienced the translation and communication issues advocates have reported firsthand.

“I am fighting for the freedom and dignity of every immigrant, asylum seeker, and refugee who calls our country home,” said Congresswoman Tlaib. “During this visit we learned there have been multiple suicide attempts at the facility, including one in the last couple weeks, and heard that more medical staff are needed. No human being should be trapped in cages, forced to experience dehumanizing conditions, or separated from their family. ICE is a rogue agency that must be abolished.”

With billions of new government dollars for separating families and locking up immigrants provided by Republicans’ Big Budget Betrayal, GEO Group is making windfall profits off the exploitation and incarceration of our loved ones and neighbors.

Congresswoman Tlaib is a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the main investigative body in Congress with jurisdiction over a wide range of federal agencies. All Members of Congress have a constitutional duty and legal right to conduct oversight over ICE and DHS facilities.

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