WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) joined Senate colleagues in introducing the Restoring Access to Detainees Act, a bill to ensure the Department of Homeland Security allows immigrants who have been detained as part of immigration enforcement to contact their legal counsel and families. The bill comes after months of credible reporting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have deprived detainees – including children and longtime legal residents – of the ability to access a lawyer, sometimes for months at a time. People have also reportedly been taken into custody, and in some cases, transferred to facilities in other countries, without being allowed to contact their families.
“It’s outrageous that the Trump administration uses cruel tactics that deprive people of their rights during immigration enforcement as a way to intimidate immigrant communities and force them to live in fear,” said Senator Rosen. “We must ensure that everyone is offered equal justice under the law.”
“There is no reason besides cruelty to deny immigrants the ability to speak to their lawyers and their families while they are detained,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “We can follow the law and treat immigrants with dignity.”
In February, Senators Rosen and Cortez Masto helped introduce the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act to provide commonsense protections against immigration enforcement in sensitive locations like schools, hospitals, and churches. They have been outspoken in their opposition to mass deportation and consistently supported DACA and TPS recipients and their families. The Senators have also strongly denounced the Trump Administration for revoking a previously authorized TPS extension for immigrants from Venezuela and other countries.
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