U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-Brooklyn/Manhattan) returned to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park on Aug. 13, a week after he and Reps. Nydia Velázquez and Adriano Espaillat were improperly turned away during an unannounced visit to the notorious prison and hours after the federal Borough of Prisons denied his official request to tour the facility.
The Department of Homeland Security is using a wing at MDC to house more than 100 immigrants who were detained by Immigration and Enforcement. A new agreement allows ICE to place detainees at eight BOP facilities, including MDC.
During the Aug. 6 visit, the congressional delegation intended to review the conditions detainees are facing at MDC, which has long been plagued by serious issues, including staff shortages, stabbings, and killings. But federal officers refused to allow them inside and briefly closed a gate behind them, locking them in. Later that day, BOP staff offered to accommodate a visit if the reps submitted a formal request.
On Aug. 8, Goldman sent an official request to the BOP, asking for a tour on Aug. 13 at 9:15 a.m., citing his statutory right as a member of Congress to conduct oversight of any facility used by DHS to “detain or otherwise house” immigrants without notice. However, in a late-night email on Aug. 12, Goldman’s request was denied without further explanation. Goldman’s office sent a response, demanding a clarification as to why the BOP would not accommodate Goldman’s advance request, but didn’t receive a reply.
“So I’m here now to try to understand better why the Bureau of Prisons is now playing along with the Department of Homeland Security’s unlawful, illegal, and unconstitutional efforts to prevent me from doing my congressional oversight,” Goldman told the press outside the facility. “It’s more urgent now, given that the Department of Homeland Security has been proven to have lied repeatedly about the detention facility at 26 Federal Plaza.”
After a brief conversation with an MDC security guard requesting to speak to a prison official, Goldman was told that an authorized MDC employee would talk to him at 10 a.m. after he had completed a training session. At 10:20 a.m., Goldman followed up, inquiring about the official’s whereabouts, and was told that the staffer was still in a training session until 10:30 a.m., and that he was in a different building.
Goldman, who has joined eleven members of Congress in a lawsuit demanding that the Trump Administration allow them access to immigration detention facilities, after they were repeatedly turned away, noted that he was “clearly” given the runaround.
“[BOP] has gone back on their word to accommodate my request,” Goldman noted. “The Bureau of Prisons is now complicit in the Department of Homeland Security’s unlawful, illegal denial of my right as a member of Congress, both by law and by the Constitution, to conduct oversight.”
Gaining access is even more critical now, Goldman said, after federal judge ruled on Aug. 12 that the conditions at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, where up to 90 immigrants were detained for more than two weeks at a time, were unacceptable and unconstitutional.
“The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly denied those facts, but when in court, under an obligation to tell the truth, the Trump administration’s lawyers admitted to those allegations,” Goldman said.
While Goldman was frustrated by illegally being denied access to immigration detention facilities like MDC and 26 Federal Plaza, he said he was more concerned about the well-being of the detainees.
Goldman acknowledged that the immigration system needed to be reformed, he noted, “Most of these detainees are trying to come here lawfully to seek a better life. Eviscerating due process rights, eviscerating civil rights, moving forward in an illegal and unconstitutional way is not the way to do it, and the American people need to know that this administration is being held accountable.”
The Borough of Prisons did not immediately return request for comment.
