For Immediate Release
May 15, 2008 |
Contact: Jonathan Godfrey
Melanie Roussell
Pedro Ribeiro (Lofgren) |
(Washington, DC)- Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr., and Subcommittee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA, Immigration Subcommittee) sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff demanding that he provide answers to disturbing revelations about widespread denial of medical treatment in the immigration detention system.
“The Department of Homeland Security’s disregard for detainee health is simply unacceptable,” said Conyers. “Letting someone live or die as fate will allow is not just bad medicine, it is inhumane.”
“Our government has a responsibility to provide a minimum level of humane care to anyone in its custody,” noted Rep. Zoe Lofgren. “Recent news accounts have made it strikingly clear that ICE has failed miserably in its responsibility to provide civilized and humane treatment to those in its custody.”
"It is heartwrenching to see the anguish of families who stood helpless as their loved ones wasted away behind bars,” added Chairman Conyers. “The controlling principle should be to treat sick detainees, not to come up with innovative ways to deny treatment. Denial and delay is leading to death or disability.”
The full text of today's letter is here.
##110-JUD-051508##
|
