U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross says the complaints her office receives about immigration detention rarely involve the ICE processing facility in Cary.
Instead, Ross said, concerns typically arise after people are transferred to the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, where North Carolinians can spend months in federal custody.
Ross recently toured the Cary facility with Rep. Valerie Foushee as part of a congressional oversight visit. She said the site functions primarily as a short-term processing center where people are held for only a few hours before being transported elsewhere.
NC Newsline spoke with Ross about what she observed during the visit, and why she is pushing for a congressional inspection of the Georgia facility.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Can you describe what you saw during your visit to the Cary facility?
Ross: It’s not a big processing center. It’s just a small facility. There are two things that go on in the facility, and we went through every nook and cranny.
There’s an ICE processing facility where they bring in people who have been picked up by ICE and process them before they go to the Stewart facility in Georgia. People come in through a secure bay and then go to a processing area. There are three holding cells — one for women and two for men. One of the men’s holding cells is for people who are violent offenders because they don’t want somebody who overstayed a visa in a cell with a violent criminal.
People stay in those holding cells only a couple of hours, and then a van picks them up and takes them to the Stewart facility in Georgia. We saw everything, including cameras that allowed us to see into the holding cells. At the time we were there, there were not many people in the cells, and there were not many people being processed. It was actually kind of a quiet situation.
They’re equipped to process people, but those people don’t stay for a long time, so it’s not like they have beds or anything like that.
I’ve been to processing facilities at the border in Texas. This was not anything like that.
The other part of the building is Homeland Security. It may help ICE, but it deals with things such as drug trafficking, human trafficking and cybersecurity. We went to that part of the facility, too, and talked to the person in charge, who has worked there for five years.
Why did you decide to visit the facility?
I wanted to see what was happening in my district. That’s not the first time I’ve been to that facility.
Before the Trump administration, that facility was considered a friendly facility for people who had immigration issues they were trying to resolve. In the past, our area wanted a Homeland Security and ICE facility because, without one, people would have had to drive to Charlotte to do normal things such as international adoptions and visa extensions.
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I’ve been to that facility before. I just hadn’t been there under the Trump administration, so I wanted to see the difference between something that could do helpful things and a place that might not be doing helpful things.
This is not the first time I have visited facilities. I went to McAllen, Texas, and I went to the wall in Texas when I first got on the immigration subcommittee. I’ve seen the big facilities, but I wanted to see what the experience would be for somebody in my district.
Now I need to go to where people get transferred because that’s where there are abuses, where people aren’t getting medical care and where I hear about different problems. That’s where Fatima, the woman from Wendell who had done everything right, went, and then we had to get her back from Georgia.
I think it’s important that I go and see where people go, because when my office is contacted, it’s almost never about the facility in North Carolina. It’s always about the facility in Georgia.
Did you ask about medical care or other basic needs for people being processed there?
We brought up whether people have access to their medications and whether they are being taken care of.
Compared with where I went in Texas, this facility was cleaner and nicer. They didn’t have a doctor on staff because people are there only for a brief period of time.
What I saw was people moving through the system, not a place where people were sleeping or showering. They told us they give everybody a meal there.
When I went to Texas, we saw multiple cells with people on the floor, sleeping with Mylar blankets and not having enough clothing. We saw the whole thing, and that is why I want to go to the Georgia facility. Unless somebody was having a seizure or something like that, they’re just not there long enough for it to become an issue.
How are people transported from Cary to the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia?
They said it’s usually a small van. When we were there, we did not see any of the transport.
What we did see was a secure bay where vehicles come in for drop-off and pick-up so people are not exposed outside. It’s the same as at a police station, where people are brought into a secure bay to make sure everything is secure when they’re getting in and out of the vehicle.
What we saw was where a vehicle would bring a person in and the stages they would go through. If a vehicle came to transport them somewhere else, they wouldn’t be out in a parking lot.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.
SUPPORTDid you discuss overcrowding?
We asked about that, but they said right now it’s not happening. Because they don’t keep people for very long, they said they haven’t had that situation, and we didn’t witness it.
When I went to Texas, I witnessed overcrowding. They told us it was much better than during the first Trump administration, but it was still heartbreaking to see what was going on. There was a whole holding cell for pregnant women.
When I went to this facility, it seemed more like you were going to your local police department.
Were you able to speak with anyone being held there?
No.
We have a ruling from a federal judge that says we’re allowed to conduct unannounced inspections, so they can’t turn us away. But we do not have the right to interfere in their business.
There weren’t many people to talk to anyway. What we could do was observe what was going on, but we couldn’t insert ourselves into the process.
When we go to Georgia, we’re going to have a list of people who have had medical difficulties or other problems, and we’ll be able to inquire about what’s going on with people who are staying there for a longer period of time. That’s why we want to go to Georgia.
What are your plans for visiting the Georgia facility?
We are trying to set up the Georgia visit so that it is very clear that many eyes are on it, rather than just showing up for an hour and leaving.
We are involving the Georgia delegation. We tried to do this last year, but there was a scheduling problem, so we’re very focused on doing it.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal is insisting that we get the maximum access. She has been outstanding in her work on this, and she is very committed to working with me, Rep. Valerie Foushee and the Georgia delegation.
About how many people were in the holding cells during your visit?
Fewer than five.
What is your reaction to the additional funding [approved last week] for ICE and Homeland Security?
It’s a waste of money, and it’s an abuse of power.
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