1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

Thank you for continuing to hold the line in demanding basic accountability from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In addition, I need to ask why taxpayers are allocating $45 billion to private prison corporations to construct and operate large-scale detention facilities in the United States. Public funds should not be used to expand a system that incentivizes detention and profit over due process and humane treatment. I urge you, along with your colleagues, to use your legislative leverage to: • Terminate existing ICE contracts with private prison corporations and prohibit the Department of Homeland Security from entering into future agreements that incentivize detention • Publicly support and revive Bernie Sanders’s amendment to repeal the $75 billion allocated for ICE and include this repeal in the party’s formal list of legislative demands Abuse, inhumane conditions, and deaths in ICE detention facilities are well documented. Members of Congress who allow these facilities to continue operating without structural reform or oversight bear responsibility for what occurs within them. I expect you to make a clear public statement in support of Senator Sanders’s amendment and to demand an end to ICE’s contracts with private prison corporations.