A group of Virginia Democrats from both chambers is pressing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to reinstall the federal workers who monitor the agency’s immigrant detention centers.
The lawmakers say the employees of the Office of Detention Oversight (ODO), who have been furloughed during the weeks-long government shutdown, are critical to ensuring that detainees held by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are treated humanely. That’s especially true, they argue, because ICE law enforcement officers have continued to work over the same span, leading to a surge in detentions that’s strained the capacity of certain facilities.
In a letter sent Thursday to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the Democrats called on the administration to return the ICE oversight staffers to the field immediately, or risk physical harm to the immigrants in their care.
“Without ODO staff actively performing these duties, there is a heightened risk that detention facilities fail to meet required standards, compromising detainee safety, access to medical care, and legal protections,” the lawmakers wrote to Noem.
“This is not hypothetical — ICE has publicly reported that at least twenty people have died in its custody since January.”
The letter was spearheaded by Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.). Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Reps. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) also signed on.
The fact that the lawmakers all represent Northern Virginia is no coincidence. In September, those Democrats had visited an ICE processing facility in Chantilly, Va., which serves as the agency’s Washington, D.C., field office. The number of detainees held there has grown since President Trump sent federal troops into the nation’s capital to fight what the administration has characterized as a violent crime “crisis.”
Many of the arrests resulting from that campaign have been related to immigration.
The Trump administration has defended its furlough decisions, saying officials are merely making tough decisions about where to spend limited resources amid the lengthy government shutdown, which entered the history books on Wednesday as the longest in the nation’s history. The president and top officials have blamed Democrats for any halt in services and oversight, saying the way to get all federal workers back on the job is simple: Senate Democrats should support a Republican spending bill to reopen the government.
The Virginia lawmakers reject the idea that the ICE oversight workers are non-essential. They’re pointing to a federal law, the Antideficiency Act, which empowers federal agencies to continue working during shutdowns if their task is deemed “necessary to prevent or avoid an imminent threat to human life or safety.”
“Therefore, ODO, which provides functions that are essential to prevent death, serious injury, or severe harm would be eligible to be excepted even if federal funding has lapsed,” they wrote to Noem.
The Democrats got some fuel for their argument on Wednesday, when a federal judge in Illinois issued a temporary restraining order against ICE for a detention center in the suburbs of Chicago. The facility, according to U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettleman, has “serious conditions” related to sanitation and safety that need immediate remedy.
Among other things, the judge is requiring ICE to provide detainees with bedding, sufficient space to sleep, a shower at least every other day and clean toilets.
