The Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) on Monday pushed again on a brand new report from NBC Information that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees are going hungry and being fed spoiled meals.
“FAKE NEWS! Any declare that there’s a lack of meals or subprime circumstances at ICE detention facilities are FALSE,” DHS stated in a submit on the social platform X.
“All detainees are supplied with correct meals, medical remedy, and have alternatives to speak with their members of the family and attorneys. Meals are licensed by dieticians. Making certain the security, safety, and well-being of people in our custody is a high precedence at ICE,” the division added.
Based on the NBC News report, ICE detainees in a number of states have reported going through meals shortage or receiving spoiled meals, in accordance with immigration advocates and detainees themselves. The outlet stated detainees are experiencing weight reduction and illness in consequence.
One Salvadoran man being held on the Golden State Annex detention facility in California complained of flavorless floor beef that “seems to be like little, small pebbles.” An legal professional stated purchasers described moldy and inedible meals at some facilities. And the spouse of a person held in El Paso, Texas, stated, “He tells me many are given two spoonfuls of rice and that many are nonetheless hungry,” in accordance with NBC Information.
The Hill has reached out to NBC Information for touch upon DHS’s response to its reporting.
Democrats have railed against the Trump administration’s immigration insurance policies and ICE techniques, which have included office raids, masked brokers and alleged racial profiling.
President Trump’s critics have raised specific alarm about “Alligator Alcatraz,” a lately opened facility in Florida’s Everglades.
Following a tour of the power this weekend, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) stated detainees “are primarily packed into cages, wall-to-wall people, 32 detainees per cage.”
Households of detainees have complained of sweltering warmth, energy outages, intense mosquitoes and lack of meals on the detention heart.
Performing ICE Director Todd Lyons responded to criticism from Democrats throughout a Monday interview on Fox News.
“One factor that a whole lot of the elected officers want to appreciate is, this is not a resort in Florida. Folks aren’t coming to that location for a long-term keep. They’re there to only be housed to allow them to be faraway from the nation shortly,” he stated.
“And like I stated, I will all the time return to, ICE prides itself on our detention requirements, and I am nonetheless going to stay with that with our partnership within the state of Florida.”