Rep. Salinas Conducts Oversight Visit of Portland Immigration and Customs Enforcement Facility

Portland, OR - Today, Congresswomen Andrea Salinas (OR-06) visited the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland to question ICE officials and hold them accountable for their detention and treatment of her constituents as well as to exert her congressional authority to conduct oversight of ICE facilities.

"I visited the ICE facility today to hear directly from officials about their detention and treatment of our neighbors, coworkers, and loved ones. My visit reinforced what I knew to be true, the Trump Administration is intentionally creating chaos and sowing confusion around immigration enforcement to seize power and push the boundaries of the law. This is how we slip into authoritarianism.

"As part of my visit, I questioned ICE officials about their failure to provide detainees their constitutional right to due process, including access to an attorney and a phone call. Initially, ICE claimed they were not denying due process. However, the accompanying immigration attorney recounted several instances of ICE's repeated failure to comply with due process. When pressed, ICE gave me their commitment that they will honor all detainees' constitutional rights. I will hold them to that commitment.

"My visit also confirmed that the Trump Administration is targeting more than criminals and gang members as they claim. ICE officials confirmed that there is no requirement for an evidence threshold for detentions and no basis for who they target. Instead, the Trump Administration is terrorizing our communities and ripping apart families. This does not make us safer or stronger.

"This visit is about holding ICE accountable and standing up for my constituents who have been unjustly detained by the Trump Administration. It should not take direct intervention from a member of Congress for ICE to give a crumb of transparency to the American people, but that is what I will do if it means holding ICE accountable. I will continue to exercise my legal right to conduct oversight of the Trump Administration to ensure they uphold constitutional rights of everyone in the United States."

Rep. Salinas' visit to the Portland ICE facility comes shortly after Customs and Border Protection arrested and detained Rep. Salinas' constituent, a wildland firefighter working to stop the Bear Gulch fire.

###