Rep. Judy Chu wants to enter immigration detention center. Bing wants to stop her

In 2014, Rep. Judy Chu first entered the immigration detention center in Adelanto, and was in a very bad situation.

Things didn’t get better last week when she brought it back to a privately operated facility in the Mojave Desert.

“It’s just a scandal about how there is no improvement,” she told me.

To be honest, things could get worse if it was just because of numbers and confusion. This makes it even more important for leaders like Chu to be willing to put themselves on the frontline to express the voice of real, silent people.

As thousands of immigrants are chased and imprisoned in the United States, oversight of detention is becoming increasingly difficult and important.

Shortly after Chu and four other members of Congress unannounced visits to Adelanto a few days ago, ICE announced new rules in an attempt to further restrict legislators’ access to their facilities – despite clear federal law allowing them unannounced such lockdowns. Although Chu and others call these new avenues illegal, they may still be enforced unless otherwise specified by the court.

Currently, the narrow, fragile line of the branch of justice is being held.

But families and even lawyers are working to track those who disappear into these facilities, many of which (including Adelando) are operated by private, for-profit companies that make millions of dollars from the government.

Geo Group, a publicly traded company that operates Adelanto, has reported revenues of more than $600 million so far this year and expects Adelanto to have annual revenue of $31 million. Perhaps Doge hopes to study a report from the Department of Geography and Justice that Geo often gets a “maximum guaranteed” – no matter how many detainees are in the facility. Sounds like a waste.

When the Trump administration began attacks on Los Angeles a few weeks ago, Chu began to receive calls from voters for help. She represents Altadena, Pasadena and other areas with large immigrant populations as the daughter of immigrants.

Her mother is a 19-year-old bride from China. Chu’s father was born in the United States.

“I have a lot of responsibility to change things, to change things better,” she said. “I am surrounded by immigrants every day. It’s an immigration area. My relatives are immigrants. My friends are immigrants. Yes, my life is immigrants.”

A few days ago, she tried to visit the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where many protests have been concentrated recently, with many people detained in Los Angeles reportedly being held initially. She heard that even though it wasn’t just a stay, people were staying there for longer.

She told me: “These raids are so serious and so huge that it seems obvious to me that they are not treating detainees in a humane way. That’s what I want to find out.”

But no luck. The authorities turned her away.

So, a few days later, she decided to show up in Adelanto, her right as a federal MP.

Guess what: no luck.

She said the police there closed the door and wouldn’t even talk to her.

“It’s incredible to actually be locked that way,” she said. “We shouted we were members of Congress. We held up the signing and said we were members of Congress, and in fact, cars that were only a few feet away in the facility were parked a few feet away. That guy’s job was just looking at us. Wow.”

Wow, indeed.

A few days later, when the door was unlocked, she returned. This time, she drove inside and did not ask for permission.

Her staff “deliberately took me to the hall and then they knew we were there.”

She went out at the front door and was granted entry.

“Icefield Agent said, ‘Oh, well, we think you’re a former protester.’ “That’s impossible considering all our yelling and signs.” anyway. ”

She armed the names of people from the detained area and asked to see them. She had to talk to some of them, but everyone wanted her help. At the beginning of the year, Adelanto held only a few people and was almost ordered to close by a court order during Covid-19. Now, it holds about 1,100 and can account for up to 1,900.

“These detainees are jumping up and down, trying to get our attention,” she said. What they told her was disturbing and casually cruel. No ability to change clothes in 10 days. Dirty shower. The phone is not accessible because they need the pin number and it doesn’t seem to be implemented no matter how many times they ask for it. Not sure how long they will be lasted or what will happen next.

“It could be weeks,” she said. “It could be years.”

Disappeared.

“It’s horrible,” she said. “It’s making our community separate.”

Indeed, especially in Southern California, in the structure of our lives and communities, immigration (not recorded).

That’s why people like Chu are so important to what happens next. Our legislators have insufficient conversations and have less action on the ongoing erosion of civil rights and legal norms. Chu spent a decade trying to bring responsibility to immigration detention and know the dirty industry better than anyone else. Work that many people never notice is important to systems that are scammed up by loved ones and disappear into a system that is puzzling even on the best days.

“These are not criminals and rapists that Trump promises to get rid of,” Chu said. “These are hard-working people who try to make a living and try to support their families. These are your friends and neighbors, and as we have seen, our citizens have been arrested. So, next is you.”

Or her. Other members of the parliament were arrested and charged for trying to enter a detention center on the East Coast, and Senator Alex Padilla was knocked down and handcuffed to interrupt a press conference for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

We are in an era where authorities often encounter mockery, silence and even violence, and everyday championships are crucial. Propaganda and lies have become norms and are rarely able to witness the truth within the land of state power, such as detention centers.

Therefore, this is also an era that makes people stand up in the face of increasing fear and chaos, which is the difference between being beaten by people over longevity and being discovered disappearance.

Even if it’s inside Adelanto.