Exclusive: Dems Ask for Investigation into DHS Detention Sites

Thirty-nine Democrats signed a letter citing reports of violations of due process and systemic neglect of medical and legal obligations.

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) at the U.S. Capitol on January 18, 2024. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

AS DEMOCRATS WATCH DONALD TRUMP’S approval rating sag, including on the issue of immigration, they’re becoming more willing to publicly oppose his excesses and unlawful overreach. The latest example: a letter provided exclusively to The Bulwark, in which thirty-nine Democrats in the House of Representatives are calling on the Department of Homeland Security inspector general to investigate a Louisiana detention system rife with reports of abuse and inhumane treatment.

The letter, spearheaded by Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) and Congressional Hispanic Caucus chair Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), cites reports of “serious violations of due process, endangerment of vulnerable individuals, and systemic neglect of medical and legal obligations within Louisiana’s immigration detention system.”

It represents the latest example of a bank-shot strategy that the party is taking when it comes to attacking Trump’s immigration record: avoiding the larger concept of deportation and instead focusing on the brutality and harshness of Trump’s methods.

The Louisiana detention system has been at the center of Trump’s mass-deportation push. Among the notable detainees sent there since Trump’s inauguration have been Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk—both of whom were detained for their pro-Palestine views.

The detentions of Khalil and Öztürk prompted limited reactions from Democrats, many of whom were wary of reigniting the Israel-Palestine controversy that rattled the party in 2024 or of drawing more attention to an issue that traditionally has been a source of Trump’s strength. But Democrats are more mobilized now, as the extent to which Trump has abused the law has become more unambiguously clear and as the victims have become more sympathetic. Examples of the latter include the three young children, all U.S. citizens, who were taken from New Orleans, detained in Louisiana, and deported to Honduras with their mothers. One of the children was suffering from stage IV cancer and has now lost access to medication.

The Trump administration maintains the children were not technically deported—their mothers were, and the kids were just along for the ride. But lawyers who sued on behalf of one of the children say otherwise. The Washington Post reported that the judge presiding over the case, Trump-appointee and conservative stalwart Terry Doughty, expressed “his concern that the girl had been deported against her father’s wishes while stressing it is ‘illegal and unconstitutional’ to deport U.S. citizens.”

“The government contends that this is all OK because the mother wishes that the child be deported with her,” the judge wrote. “But the court doesn’t know that.”

Pro-immigration groups and advocates say it’s no coincidence that the Trump administration has so readily used the detention facility in Louisiana.

Nayna Gupta, policy director of the American Immigration Council, noted that “it gives them an advantage in legal cases they’re fighting.” She noted that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Louisiana, “is more sympathetic to the government.”

But the letter the Democrats sent is not just an attempt to spotlight the administration’s choice of legal jurisdictions. It’s to raise concerns about the facilities themselves. A report by the organization RFK Human Rights from last summer based on 59 jail visits from 2022 to 2024, including interviews with over 6,200 detained people, revealed “that immigration detention facilities under the jurisdiction of the New Orleans ICE Field Office (NOLA ICE) routinely fail to comply with ICE’s own minimal standards of care, in addition to violating federal and international human rights law.”

Gupta also noted that the state’s detention system is willing to accept more people and look the other way on overcrowding at a time when ICE has 41,000 detention beds but is detaining 48,000 people.

Torres told The Bulwark that the American people deserve to know whether DHS is operating beyond the law, regardless of who the victim is.

“The reports emerging from ICE detention centers in Louisiana suggest the possible existence of a shadow so-called justice system in America where due process is disregarded, human rights are violated, and accountability is nowhere to be found,” Torres said. He continued:

The alleged conduct at these detention centers raises serious questions about whether the Trump administration is pushing the boundaries of the law beyond their limit and chipping away at the very foundations of American democracy in the process. When due process is treated as optional and human dignity as disposable, we all have a civic duty to fight back.

Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-Ill.), another of the signers of the letter, told The Bulwark that he is “appalled” that ICE continues to use taxpayer dollars to trample on civil liberties, which is why he and his colleagues are demanding the investigation.

“We know Trump and his cronies are intent on inflicting as much cruelty as they can on immigrants, including by dumping people in Louisiana detention facilities and denying them due process, medical care, and legal representation,” he said. “We will continue to fight because due process affects all of us. Today, it’s immigrants with tattoos, 2-year-olds, and even children with cancer who are being targeted. Tomorrow, it could be anyone else who falls out of favor with this authoritarian regime.”

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) was particularly animated about the matter of the child with cancer being deported. “I would ask President Trump and my colleagues in Congress what crime this 4-year-old committed,” he said during a press conference last week as Espaillat and other lawmakers stood alongside him.

“What crime did this child commit that he or she couldn’t even be afforded the basic care that they needed? Stage IV cancer! What kind of country are we becoming?” said Castro, who is himself a cancer survivor.

The group letter is the latest in what one House Democratic staffer described as a stark change in attitude within the party since the days immediately after Trump’s inauguration. Back then stunned Democrats had little more to offer than a “What-do-we-do-now, deer-in-the-headlights” look when the topic turned to immigration. The staffer added that this began to change for lawmakers when clips started to circulate from town halls that revealed deep voter anger at Republicans, and the toughest question for Democrats became, “What are you going to do about it?”

A further change came more recently when polling around Trump’s first 100 days showed his immigration policies are increasingly unpopular.

Back in January there was a “perception of an invincible Trump administration,” said the Democratic staffer. But by Cinco de Mayo there was a sense that Trump “flew too close to the sun.”

A Democratic member of Congress agreed.

“Democrats seem to finally be realizing that you can push back on these immigration issues because Trump’s actions are so out of the mainstream and severe—to Democrats, independents, and even a lot of Republicans—that they shock the conscience,” the lawmaker said, asking for anonymity to be critical of the party. “When you talk about deporting a 4-year-old with cancer before you can even communicate a medical plan—the majority of Americans disagree with that.”

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One Last Thing

A few weeks ago, we covered the administration’s new requirement that undocumented immigrants register with the government. The deadline to sign up was April 11, and on April 14, a Texas man was charged with failing to register.

The entire thing is designed as a catch-22. If you register, you’re raising your hand and yelling, “Over here, ICE! Come deport me!” If you don’t register, then you’re not only an undocumented immigrant but also a criminal, and therefore more likely to be deported. Which is exactly why the administration implemented the policy.