Recording in progress two minutes
to couple more stragglers
come in.
Mark, I think there's a critical
mass in Congresswoman when you're
ready.
Okay, I'm ready.
Hi everybody.
We wanna thank the press for joining
us today.
Representative Mark Pocan and
I am Representative Gwen Moore
represent the Greater Milwaukee
area.
We went today to visit
the Dodge County Jail,
which also has a contract
with ICE
to detain
detainees under
ICE.
And Mark Percan and went.
And I was particularly concerned
about one detainee,
Ramon Morales
Reyes
who, as you might
all recall,
was falsely accused
of writing a threatening letter to
Donald Trump.
And I
wasn't able to see him.
Because they say that I
would have had to give notice to
actually be able to see him,
although I was
there under my
prerogatives and privileges
as a member of Congress
for oversight
and didn't really need an
appointment, but I was unable to see
them. But he was falsely accused
of writing a
letter threatening
the life of the president,
Donald Trump.
Um, he is,
uh, we spoke
with his attorney and,
uh he is supposed to have a
hearing on Wednesday, uh,
at a bond hearing on a Wednesday.
He is absolutely no threat
to the community.
Uh, he has, uh,
ties here. He has American children,
wife. He works here.
Uh and hopefully he
will be bonded out of
this facility on
Wednesday.
I found the,
at least as much as the sheriff
would allow us to see,
it appeared to be clean,
orderly, the prisoners were
under lockdown because
of our presence, but...
At least from what we could see,
it seemed to be
in orderly well-run place.
We did ask them particularly about
medical and about
nutrition and the ability
to get exercise.
They say that they're treated like
other detainees who are not.
Who are citizens, that they're able
to earn privileges and to
be able to go out and that
they are screened for communicable
diseases and that they have
a decent diet.
I definitely plan to
return next
Friday if, in fact,
Mr. Morales Reyes
is not bonded
out, but hopefully
he will be bonded out.
But I will.
I will notice them that I
wanna come in and to be able to
have a conversation with
those detainees because I don't
think that there are any
employees from ICE
who are there to be able
to ask some of the
critical questions that we had.
And so Mark, I wanna turn
it over to you to talk about some of
those things that we
definitely missed.
Well, thank you, Gwen, and thanks,
everybody, for being here.
We have congressional prerogative
to do an unannounced visit.
In fact, I think a requirement
really morally to do an unanounced
visit to these facilities.
Dodge County Jail is the only ICE
facility in Wisconsin.
So we went to go there.
It took about an hour to get us
into the process because I
think, you know, it was unannoused
and we gave him a letter from the
Appropriations Committee from Rosa
DeLora, who's the ranking Democratic
member. That explains the law.
They got the sheriff there.
We had a conversation with him.
But there are no ICE officials on
premises. In fact, they come every
three weeks is all they
come. So, you know, the sheriff, to
his credit, I think, did what
he could do, which is give us a tour
of the facility.
But what he couldn't do is really
answer the specific questions,
many of which we had about ICE.
We tried calling prior.
Once we were there, We tried
calling ICE so that we could get
permission to talk to inmates
because the sheriff said he wouldn't
let us or take our staff in either.
And we tried to get ahold of ICE.
We went to the website for ICE
and on the page where it talks about
the Milwaukee field office, we
called that number and it's
disconnected.
So we had no way to get hold
of ICE because
their number on their website
is disconnected.
So we did the tour.
They do get good grades as a
facility and I think Gwen and I
would We both say that it.
It met those standards.
It's a very clean facility.
It's the ICE detainees
are treated, in fact, housed equally
with county detainee
that they have at the jail.
And they do have a forced security
classification explained to us,
medical facilities, she showed us,
library, where the food is prepared,
et cetera.
I think the real questions we have,
though, were really with ICE.
We don't even know how many detaines
were there because the sheriff
didn't wanna give us an answer
unless he had the exact answer.
I do feel, unfortunately, that he
felt that we might have been trying
to do a gotcha with him, and we
weren't. He was nothing but, I
think, respectful throughout the
tour, but he
didn't want to give us information.
So, we know it's around a hundred,
but we don't know more than that
because ICE bluntly,
while I'll explain in a second, also
didn't return a call when we did get
the right number.
So we don t know where people are
from within the
ICE facility. He did tell us that
people could come from worldwide.
It's not like they're from
Wisconsin.
They could come from anywhere and
ICE could bring them into this
facility.
So it doesn't mean that there are
folks from Wisconsin who've been
detained somehow in Wisconsin.
We couldn't get any
numbers on the makeup,
the population makeup of the
detainees, the reason for anyone
being detained, and we couldn't talk
to a detainee because the
sheriff did want ICE permission to
do that or advance notice, which is
what Gwen talked about for her
inmate. And then at the very end of
the tour, the sheriff gave us
the number of his contact that he
had talked to while we were out
waiting that hour to do the
tour. And I left a
message and I've yet to
get a call back. And that was more
than two hours ago.
And they knew that we were just in
the facility.
This is the problem, right?
ICE treats us all like
we don't deserve to get information,
even though we have oversight
authority to do that, including
the oversight authority to do the
visit to Guadalajara.
Did today.
So, you know, I guess we did get a
chance to see the facility.
I do think the Dodge County facility
does meet all the requirements
that ICE puts out there for
facilities.
And to the sheriff's credit, I think
he gave us a tour that
was respectful and I
think as inclusive as he felt he
could.
But ICE, without ICE either
picking up a phone or not
disconnecting Milwaukee number or
being there on premises.
We really couldn't get some of the
answers that we would have liked to
for going into a facility when
I'll kick it back to you
Well, thanks, Mark.
I really agree with everything
that you've said.
The sheriff was accommodated
us to the extent that he felt he
had agency to do it.
I was really pleased to hear that
the agreements that
county sheriffs in some
counties of the state had
with ICE does
not include the
sheriff's intervention, say, at a
traffic stop or something, where
they would arrest on behalf of
of ICE, which is something
that I needed some clarification as
to what that
agreement entailed.
You know, just switching topics a
little bit, I was also
concerned about another
young woman who lives in Milwaukee,
Yesenia Ruano,
who of course has been told that
she needs to self-deport by
tomorrow.
And literally, I spoke with her
attorney today and her
attorney Mark Christopher said
literally while we were on the
phone, they were at
that moment filing a
stay because
in fact, they found
that she has an ongoing
active application is
in process with the
US immigration
service for a
T visa.
That's a visa for
victims of trafficking.
She has ties to the community.
She has US born twin daughters,
nine years old.
She's an exceptional
asset to school district
where she works.
Not a threat at all to the
Community, not the
rapists and
drug traffickers and dealers
that we have heard about.
We just want some, we want people
to know that
as Americans,
you have due process when you're
on our soil,
whether you're, despite your
citizenship status,
due process is part
of what we expect under
our constitution.
And so that stay
has been filed today
for an emergency stay
because she should at least be
able.
We should be able to wait,
you know, deported or not,
for her to have the hearing
to which she's entitled,
her TV says, you now,
she had a brother killed by
gang members when she was
there. And they tried to
force her and traffic
her. So we are
hoping that our law,
rule of law, prevails over.
The zealous activities of
ice.
I think we can open it up for
questions.
Matt, I don't know the best process
to do this. I don't know.
People go.
Unmute and say something or
how we should do that.
I think maybe raise hands.
There's a button to raise hands
Okay, if people can do the raise
hand option and if not, just unmute
yourself and say your name and
outlet, please.
And Gwen or I can try to answer.
Todd Richmond, I see your hand.
Yeah, can you guys hear me?
Two questions Mark and Gwen.
So you were you able to visually
observe any ICE detainees
or were you not certain that
they were ICE detainees and who you
were looking at if you were allowed
to look at anybody and
Why did you not pursue these
questions with the Chicago ICE
headquarters, which pretty much
is control of the region.
So we did, they locked down
part of the area so we could
actually walk into the facility
that people were living.
They did open up an empty
cell for us to see the cell and the
conditions there.
But we did see others in another
part where we were just in
the central area where
we did see people and
they were at their tables or doing
whatever, sleeping,
etc. So we did see
that in their intermix.
So it's ICE detainees,
as long with county jail detainee.
So we couldn't tell you exactly
who was who, but we certainly
couldn't talk to anyone because that
wasn't allowed.
Your second question though, Todd,
was around Chicago.
And that's the number we were given.
And so after the Milwaukee number
was disconnected, we couldn't get
through prior, the number the
sheriff gave us that he talked
to. While he was opening
it up for us to come in, because I
think he didn't know the
house rules and he had to check in
on that, that's the person that
did not return my call.
And I'm still waiting for a return
call from him. So I couldn't ask any
specifics about the people who are
actually at the facility.
I this is Gwen Moore.
I do think that on
the staff level, we've been
able to reach the Chicago office and
we plan to do that to
arrange a visit where we
can actually speak to Ramon
Morales Reyes
if he
does not receive if he's
not bonded out.
And we spoke with
Mr. Morales Reyes'
attorney.
Has connections as well.
So we plan to pursue the
connections with Chicago
and make sure that
they respond at least.
I'll do my, I'll in good faith
make an appointment
so that I can show up
a week from today.
Nick Bohr.
Thank you. I have a question for
congresswoman Moore.
You said that you would like to
visit and speak with
the detainees or some of them.
What is it specifically you
would ask them?
Well, I certainly would want
to make sure that I had a
translator there with me.
I do have
that asset
in my office.
I wanna make sure that they're okay,
make sure they're treated well.
I wanna to make that they
believe that they are
getting the kind of representation
that they deserve.
The sheriff told us,
at least anecdotally,
that they had pretty much decided
that he was not guilty of
writing that letter to
Donald Trump.
But he was, you know, he said,
look, I'm not, all I do is pick
people up,
transport them and detain them.
You know, I don't have anything to
do with the adjudications of their
case. So I can't tell you what's
gonna happen or what's not gonna
happen.
So I've spoken with the attorney
after I made the visit.
And he shared with me that
they're gonna be trying very, very
hard.
And we're gonna weigh in
and say that he is,
to the extent that we know anything
about it, they've already determined
that he could not be, that he
was a victim, in
fact, of a crime, which is
how, you know, ICE
got sights on him,
and that the perpetrator
of the crime, you now, is
perhaps.
We don't know, perhaps responsible
for that awful correspondence
and
threat against the president's life.
So I wanna make sure that
his well-being
is being dealt
with.
Yeah, Nick, part of it is, you know,
the arrogance that we've seen from
ICE so far this
year.
The arrogance of someone actually
not calling back a member who calls
on his personal cell to
the person that just got done
talking to the sheriff as we toured
a facility.
You know, sometimes we're finding, I
had a constituent who actually
was down at a court in Miami,
and as a sentencing, as they
were found their case for
asylum was found not valid.
ICE was waiting in the hallway.
We know of the family that was
speaking Spanish at a mall in
Milwaukee and they're Puerto Rican,
they're citizens of the United
States. So there's a lot of reasons
you want to talk to folks who are
detained to make sure that they're
actually there for a legitimate
reason. And I wouldn't expect the
sheriff to know that. That's not his
responsibility, but it is ICE's.
And if they're only showing up every
three weeks to do anything and they
don't even answer to members of
Congress, that's exactly why we
have to do visits like this and why
we have to be able to talk with
people who are there.
Next up, I have Ava.
Yes. Hi.
Nice to meet you. I'm Eva Wen.
I am a reporter with the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel.
I wrote the story about
Ramon Morales Reyes.
And I was wondering,
what are your thoughts on the
Department of Homeland Security kind
of issuing this public statement
that accused Morales-Reyes of
writing that threatening letter and
then investigators kind of next day
deciding that it was not him?
Well, like I said, you know,
when zeal
supplants the rule of law,
we have to be concerned, because
that's why we have due process.
It's why we have rules
of engagement.
It is why the sheriff
of Dodge County says he doesn't
stop people on a traffic stop,
you know, and then try
to determine what their immigration
status is. We got, we got
rules about the way this stuff is
supposed to go.
And it's frightening
because it, you know,
it's Morales Reyes today
and it's us tomorrow.
And the real problem, Eva, I mean,
also on this is if they admitted
someone didn't do anything, why are
they still being held, right?
That's the problem, you know, just
because people had tattoos, they
were sent to El Salvador,
even to tattoos that had nothing to
do with gangland. I mean this is the
lawless behavior of ICE that
we're seeing all too often.
And what we merely wanted to do is
get a chance to talk to the folks
who are there. But if you announce
it, they can take away people that
maybe they know.
They shouldn't have put away.
That's why we have the power through
Congress to go in and do an
unannounced visit. The problem is,
since ICE doesn't actually care
about the facility very much, they
seem to have closed down the
Milwaukee office or at least the
phone number for the Milwaukee
Office. And now you only have
Chicago office that come in once
every three weeks. How do we get
those answers?
And it's much like we're seeing
before Congress, even from the
Secretary of Homeland Security,
they're not providing us answers.
And that's the real problem with
this administration right now is
that, On a regular basis,
whether it be the Doge commission,
there's no phone number on the
website, no email.
We tried to get contacts that we
couldn't figure out how to.
We tried every congressional liaison
we had.
We called the White House. They
asked us to call back in 15 minutes.
And then we got a call again,
finally to get a contact
within Doge.
This is not run
like the federal government.
This is run like an authoritarian
society.
And ICE is acting like they're the
personal police for somebody right
now, rather than the way they should
be. So I think what we learned
today.
Was, again, there's still no
accountability.
ICE is acting like they are somehow
above the law, above lawmakers,
and the best we could do is have a
local sheriff show us the
facility, but we
knew he couldn't answer more
questions. And to his credit, he
said he couldn t answer more
question, but ICE needs to at least
be responsive to members of
Congress.
And what do you think his
arrest, Morata Strayer's arrest,
what impact would that have
on the communities that you
represent and public safety and
everything?
Well, I think that
it really, again, speaks to
how the United States
is showing up in the world to stray
this far from the rule
of law, to literally say
that the, you know, because it's
moving way away from the message
that they put out there that
we're deporting people who
are dangerous,
people who belong to criminal gangs,
people who and
in order to get their numbers up or
keep the momentum up,
when you have to snatch a
much needed
school support person,
and they're desperate for these
people in the classroom, a mother of
two U.S.
Citizens, when she becomes your
target, that's the
canary in the coal mine that
really demonstrates that we're
running way.
Out of range with an
overshooting our
goals.
And it should be a wake-up call
because I think that
even
conservative communities are saying,
wait a minute, we're not looking for
you to pluck productive
members of our society,
working people out just
on a traffic stop or
accidentally stumbling upon their
immigration status that
we want some rules in place.
That are in fact going to
make us feel safer.
And that, you know, because that
goes beyond this, it goes to
workers,
parents, you knows,
grandmas who are here in this
country and
dreamers.
Other questions?
I don't see hands up.
If someone is not seeing that
function on their screen, you could
also unmute
your mic and just ask the question.
If not, we thank people for
your time today.
Again, we're still gonna pursue
the questions we had.
How many folks are there?
Give us some idea of the
demographics.
How many senior citizens, are there
any pregnant women? Are there any
transgender inmates?
Are there are any juveniles?
They've said no.
And I believe that is the one answer
we did get definitively because they
only house adult ICE detainees.
But we have a lot of other questions
and we wanna know.
This is the only ICE facility in
Wisconsin.
In Dodge County and
we felt it was our
duty to do that, Gwen.
Yeah, again, thank you for
gathering the press.
It's really important for us
to let all
of these institutions to know that
we're
not saying that
their mission is not important
to
detain people.
But we want to make sure that
everybody who is detained in
the United States is here with
due process.
They're being treated like human
beings.
They're getting medical care,
nutrition. I was very concerned
about whether or not people were
just being fed all carbs,
given the high propensity of
diabetes, for example, among
black and brown people.
And just wondering if they're,
you know, because their budgets from
ICE don't seem to be commensurate
with what it might cost
to house those prisoners.
And so we didn't get him to talk
about the dirt.
Of any budget to really
take care of people in a way that
might.
Some standard of
care that
we think would be equitable.
But we're going to continue to work.
I am going to make
sure that I reach out to the Chicago
office so I don't have any more
questions or problems.
I will make an appointment to go
there.
So thanks everybody, appreciate you
being with us and any other
questions you can send to either of
us.
And again, thanks for availability
on short notice.