U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez was among three Democratic members of Congress who visited an ICE detention center in Kentucky Monday to check on two Chicagoans who say they aren’t receiving proper medical care for diabetes, including a man who has been detained since September.
Ramirez told the Sun-Times she left “with more questions and more concerns” than when she walked in, and she called the conditions at the county jail turned detention center “devastating.” The center has capacity for 129 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees, with the rest of the facility home to the general jail population. Ramirez said the detention center was at a maximum 430 inmates and detainees on Monday.
The Illinois congresswoman joined U.S. Reps. Gwen Moore, D-Wisc. and Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky., in the visit to Campbell County Detention Center in Newport, Kentucky, where she checked on two constituents: Ricardo, a 39-year-old man detained since September and Octavio, 53, detained for two months. Ramirez said both are diabetic and have complained to her about inadequate food and medication.
“It’s devastating, truly.” Ramirez said after her visit. “I have two constituents who are diabetic, who are not getting their insulin, and instead are getting pre-diabetic medication because they won’t give them insulin. At the same time, the food is expired, and it’s all pasta, rice, and anything that’s carb-heavy. So they don’t have to actually give them any real balanced food with protein. One of them has not eaten meat in six months because he got tired of eating beef with worms, and expired. So they’re always sick.”
The Sun-Times reached out to U.S. Department of Homeland Security to ask about the medical care and diet for the two men. DHS asked for more information about both detainees, including their full names, date of birth and their nine-digit registration number, but did not immediately comment. The Sun-Times provided first names, ages and country of origin. After the members of Congress spoke to reporters, Campbell County Jailer James Daley disputed the allegations that people at the center weren’t being given access to basic necessities like medical care and diabetic-friendly food options, according to Cincinnati public radio station WVXU.
The county jail is one of hundreds contracted by ICE, with a contract that pays local jails to house immigrants in detention.
“I get paid to hold inmates from other counties,” Daley told WVXU after the representatives had left. “I get paid to hold inmates for the state, and I get paid to hold inmates from the federal government.”
Ramirez said Ricardo also shared with her that he has not been outside since he entered the facility in September, except for “outdoor recreational time,” which he described as a room that’s big enough for 20 people to stand in.
“What they call outdoor activities is because there’s a couple little vents. There’s vents on the ceiling where you can look to see if the sun came out today,” Ramirez said. “Just think about the mental instability of people who have been in detention. They don’t know when the next court date will be, why the judge didn’t show up, why they don’t have due process. why their habeas has been denied.”
Ramirez said Ricardo’s 11-month stay at the center is due to a delay in court proceedings.
“Courts are canceling appointments. He has had his habeas [corpus[ denied.” Ramirez said. “We’re reapplying for habeas for him. It’s just a long journey.”
Ramirez also said other detainees yelled for help as the visiting group prepared to exit.
“They screamed as we were leaving, ‘Please help us. They treat us really badly. They won’t feed us,'” Ramirez said. “And this is the outcry of people who believe that they’re going to die in detention, and no one’s watching, which is why these congressional visits are so incredibly important. Every member needs to be doing these visits for all their constituents.”
The three members of Congress say they’re submitting a congressional letter to DHS demanding an immediate response — and Ramirez said she wants to know by Tuesday whether her constituents are getting their insulin.
“If I need to come back here, I’m going to come back here,” Ramirez said.