Pressley: Congresswoman Ayana Presley, here, in my capacity as a member of Congress and as a member of the Committee on Government Oversight and Reform to conduct some real-time oversight, came here to, observe the facilities and to ask questions and to demand answers on behalf of my constituents. And I’m leaving here with my position unchanged that we need to defund and abolish ICE.
Bravo. Off to a good start.
And you know I it’s really important that we continue to conduct vigorous oversight. I’ve had a number of constituents who have been unlawfully processed and detained. And because of the dedicated work of my staff and working cooperatively with organizations like LUCE and other advocacy and immigrants’ rights organizations, we’ve been able to get a lot of people freed and reunited with their families and back home.
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That being said, the trauma for what they experienced will remain and at the end of the day the ICE has only been in existence since 2003. Immigration enforcement should not be happening under DHS andthis work has nothing to do with law and order if you are actively violating people’s constitutional rights of due process.
This is great stuff! Keep it going.
And in many instances, they’re civil and human rights. And it certainly has nothing to do with public safety if we are sowing terror and trauma and chaos. And so this is a one step and one tool available to us in the work of oversight at large and appreciate you all, you know, being here because you recognize that our freedoms and our destinies are tied and these are our neighbors.
So any questions?
Question: Congresswoman Presley, what was it that you saw inside the facility? What conditions did you see the detainees experiencing in there?
Pressley: Well, first let me just say that this is a processing facility. This is not meant to be a detention facility and they do not have they don’t have any of the, like, for example medical personnel on site, or the things that would be needed that would meet the standard protocol and criteria for a detention facility. No one’s supposed to I mean again I could argue that the majority of the people here shouldn’t be here at all…
I’m not sure why she didn’t argue exactly that point.
For example, how about:
And since the protocols of a detention facility are not met here, absolutely no one should be spending the night here. People that need to be detained should be transferred within 12 hours or released with or without bond. And speaking of bond, the bond amounts required to get people illegally detained at this facility are exorbitant for working class people at an average of $7,000 which is far too much for people who have been convicted of no crime.
Something like that?
…but who have been here certainly should not be here more than 72-hours. You’re talking about you know just very challenging conditions and I’m especially worried for those that I would consider to be medically vulnerable. There have been pregnant women detained and minors as well. But you know again I care about the humanity and the dignity of all people. But I do want to lift up those that are especially vulnerable, medically vulnerable and otherwise like the pregnant women that have been detained here. So they are not equipped to meet the standard protocols of a detention facility. No one should be here. Again, majority of people here are not criminals. They’ve been accused of crimes and are deserving of a due process and their constitutional rights. But no one should be here more than 72-hours.
How about what ICE told Burlington in 2007? Regional Director of ICE, told the audience at a public meeting, “You will note that we have no kitchens and no dining rooms, and therefore we cannot keep people overnight or over the weekend.”
… This is not equipped to meet the standards of protocol in terms of medical care. I mean, I have a constituent, Emmanuel Damas, who’s made a national news, who because of medical neglect died ultimately of sepsis because of a toothache.
Question: So we also know that several detainees after their experiences here have said that their communication with doctors was impeded. I’ve spoken with lawyers who said they’ve had difficulty getting in touch with their clients once they’ve been detained here. Did you have a chance to talk about talk with any of the officials about those aspects?
Pressley: Sure, we asked a lot of those questions and we have more questions answers that are pending in terms of some broader questions that need answered to have a more comprehensive view. I mean again the work of oversight does not end after this visit. You know we will continue to do that.
Question: What did you see inside the facility? Was there one bathroom that shared or the showers or people sleeping on the floor?
I did not. I did witness one person in a group holding cell that was on the floor in one of those mylar blankets. They were preparing to be released in a couple of hours. And this is a processing facility. So, anyone that’s here, they should be turned around in four or five hours. You know, not even the 72-hour period.
How long has that person been there?
Again, with this 72-hour period? Where is this coming from? You just said they should be turned around in “four or five hours.”
… There I did observe a shower.
And under what conditions, if any, is anyone allowed to use that shower? It’s in the floor-plan, which seems to be its purpose.
We’ve heard as many as 50 people in the large holding rooms of which there are 4. Now assume they were all equally loaded, because why would you put 50 people in 1 room while only 15 were in another. Let’s be conservative and say, worst case that there were 40 people in each of the 4 large holding rooms + 1 in each of the small rooms = 164 people. Now if they escort 1 person at a time to the shower once a day and 124 people were there, that makes 24hours X 60min/hr divided by 124 people = 9 minutes per person. That would require every 9 minutes an escort to and from the shower 24 hours a day. Does anyone believe that ever happened? I DO NOT.
… I also was able to see what sort of you know food is being provided. The individual cells are holding do have toilets. So in the individual facilities there there’s a toilet. The beds are very thin. The blankets are very thin. The pillows are very thin. I mean I couldn’t imagine a pregnant woman sleeping on the floor, atop one of these mattresses or a 14-year-old or anyone.
And yet that continues to happen in 2026, and that’s why I am calling for this facility to be SHUT DOWN!
Just a suggestion.
Question: Are there menstrual products available?
Pressley: Yes, there are feminine hygiene products and you know in my role as the house co-chair of the reproductive freedom caucus. That’s why many of my questions were in that that vein of anyone that might be pregnant and whether or not women are able to access feminine hygiene products and also better understanding how many women typically do they see how many children and what have been the circumstances.
Question: Are you concerned [inaudible]?
Pressley: Well, first, I just want to say in the in the midst of this active, growing fascist state, I’m grateful for our first line of defense, and that is the courts. Our strategy remains litigation, legislation, agitation, and mobilization, and the courts have continued to enforce our congressional right to do the work of oversight, and that’s true for any member of Congress.
So, why is your visit pre-arranged, if the courts have upheld Congress’ rights to oversight?
… We should be able to show up completely unannounced.
Yes. And you are not able to, but yay, courts? I don’t get it. What am I missing?
… That being said, with the current protocol of providing notice, which we did comply with that notice, you always run the risk of things being changed in the face of a visit.
They emptied the facility out, like cramming for a final exam. The MA delegation needs to hit them with a series of pop quizzes.
Please come back. Write a speech assuming you’ll be denied entry. Try to inspect unannounced, and when you are denied, come to the mic and deliver the speech. I will applaud as loudly as I can.
But we still have to come still have to come and ask our questions. And you may recall Rumeysa Ozturk, a Somerville constituent of mine, a Turkish national whose student visa was revoked, who was taken across many state lines to Texas hog tied, shackled, and all because she wrote an op-ed centering the humanity of the Palestinian people. And after various court proceedings and interventions my office working closely with Senator Markey and with advocates ultimately Rumeysa was released, but I did travel to Texas to check on her welfare and her well-being.
And I’ll never forget when we came in there and I have to say they said they were going after the worst of the worst. But Rumeysa Ozturk and the majority of those who have been unlawfully processed or detained represent the best of the best. Rumeysa Ozturk, as a PhD student studying childhood development. When we entered that facility, that detention facility, which is all motivated by for-profit by profit, I need to say that whether you’re talking about mass incarceration or whether you’re talking about mass kidnappings or deportation, they’re all motivated and incentivized by the same for-profit system. But when we went in there, Rumeysa first of all, her concern was not for herself. it was for the other women who were detained with her. And she said, “Congresswoman Presley, thank you for being here. We feared that everyone had forgotten about us. We feared that God had forgotten about us.”
Yup. That all happened for sure. In April of 2025. That was 11 months ago. None of this was learned TODAY. Since April of 2025, what EXACTLY has improved? Pregnant women held in detention in 2026. 50 people crammed in a room in 2026.
… And so that’s why it’s important that we are vigilant so that our neighbors know we have not forgotten about them, that we are invested in their welfare, their well-being, and their safety and their rights being their constitutional rights being honored. And they’re returning to their families and to their lives so they can continue to make the contributions that they’ve already been making.
Not Emmanuel Damas. He didn’t return to his family, and yet he only gets the briefest of mentions today. Why not talk in detail on this story? If you don’t know the details, have a staff member do it. Have some notes.
ICE calls him a “criminal illegal alien” who was “arrested for assault and battery in Sep of 2025” because he poses a risk to public safety. And yet he was released by the Boston Police Dept, so apparently, they did not feel he was a risk to public safety. The Constitution gives us the right to the presumption of innocence and a fair and speedy trial.
… And in Rumeysa Ozturk’s case just recently the charges were dropped entirely and so now she can resume her life and her studies and but that being said again there is tremendous trauma that she has endured with this aggressive and unlawful disruption of her life. And this is why I still maintain and I’ve been saying this since I ran for Congress in 2018 that we need to defund and abolish ICE. It is not an agency that can be reformed. This has nothing to do with new training protocols you know or standards. It is, these are systemic violations of constitutional and human rights that have existed for many years. It cannot be reformed. It is rogue and moving in ways that are unlawful, unconstitutional, and unconscionable.
Back on target. I love the “uns.” That’s great stuff.
Question: Congresswoman, Congresswoman, you were you mentioned a 14-year-old earlier. Uh, I wanted to ask about the 14-year-old Brazilian, girl who was detained, also taken over to New York City. Can you tell me how you got involved in this case? It’s my understanding from her attorney that you called him. You were aware you were trying to seek get her some help. Can you verify that? Can you tell me how you got involved? What your opinion is about what happened to her because she’s getting released today is our understanding and just your take overall.
Pressley: Well, I’m glad that she’s being released today and will be reunited with her aunt and her uncle. How we got involved is I have an incredibly dedicated team that are exhaustive in working hundreds of cases that are similar. I wish that her case was an anomaly, but increasingly so we have very extreme circumstances for minors and as I said for pregnant women and Matteo in my office was contacted by LUCE, one of the groups that we work with an incredible you know mutual aid and network of communicating where there is ICE presence and seeking both legislative political and legal interventions for people. So, Matteo works very closely with them. They contacted Matteo and then from there we have been working very closely with her legal counsel. But again, it takes all of these levers being pulled and it takes us working collectively, collaboratively, and just being vigilant in our efforts. No minor should be in the same way that local law enforcement could not interview a minor without an adult present, cannot incarcerate a minor. I have I boycotted the State of the Union. This is the second year that I’ve done that. And although I did not physically attend the state of the union, I did have children who have been directly impacted by ICE as my symbolic state of the union guests. And it is my experience that the hostilities and the policies of this administration are active child abuse child negligence and inflicting childhood trauma. And so, I said that day that the state of our union is traumatized and it is specifically traumatizing our children. So even when we were able to have working with organizations like LUCE and the ACLU and working with my colleagues on the municipal and state level even when we’re able to have an intervention and ultimately have someone freed and reunited with their families and their communities and to return to their lives, they’re forever changed by the traumatic disruption that they have experienced that never should have happened in the first place.
YES!
And that’s what I am calling for… (FILL IN WITH SOMETHING BOLD).
Question: Congresswoman, the attorney for the 14-year-old woman, young girl rather, said that he’s frustrated because he’s not having answers to why she was even taken. There seems to be a change of excuses. Could you comment on why she was even taken into custody? Do you know? And how frustrated are you?
I am very frustrated. Oh, you meant the Representative.
Pressley: Yeah, I think that there’s both in that case and in many of them there is a blame game that goes on and a skirting of responsibility and a lot of finger-pointing. But again, that case is not an anomaly. When I visited the detention facilities, the ICE detention facilities in Texas and met with many of the detainees there, overwhelmingly they had no idea why they were there. And it had never been communicated to them why they were there. If DHS was really concerned about the welfare of that young woman, as an adult who has, a parent who has a 17-year-old daughter, I don’t think the way to demonstrate care about child welfare is to incarcerate someone, take them thousands of miles away from their family and to subject them to you know inquiry and investigation without adults present. They only, you can’t treat trauma with more trauma. If they had genuine concern and care about the welfare of this minor child, their actions are very contradictory to people that are actually concerned about the safety and the welfare of a minor.
Since they won’t let you speak with detained people here, why not try some of the other New England locations where they detain people for ICE? Plymouth County Correctional Facility, Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island, FCI Berlin, Chittenden RCF?
Question: Thank you very much for being here today on behalf of all of us. What will be your follow-up to today’s visit? And how will you encourage other members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation to regularly stay on top of this issue and visit regularly?
Great question!
Pressley:I’ll just encourage my colleagues to do so. I have been in close communication with many of my colleagues where we have shared jurisdictional you know overlap about constituents that have been unlawfully, I mean every single one of my colleagues I’ve had a case that I’ve worked with them on in my office we have hundreds of open cases like this right now and I’ll continue to encourage them to be vigilant we just have to conduct oversight right all the time. And I it just breaks my heart that any person could feel as Rumeysa did in those early days while she was detained that that God had forgotten about her, that people had forgotten about her. And I do want to say something about the mutual aid that has emerged. I want to say something about the citizen concern you know demonstrated here. Rumeysa talked about how when she was being pushed into that law enforcement vehicle, she looked up and saw in the window a neighbor she didn’t know who was filming what was happening and who would put place their hand on the window. And she said it gave her great comfort. That she couldn’t name that neighbor, didn’t know them intimately, but the fact that they were bearing witness. It gave her hope for all that she the journey that she was about to embark upon, not knowing where she was going, that eventually someone would come and see about her because someone gave a damn about what was happening to her because they were filming it. And because even with that gesture of just putting their hand to the window, they were letting her know, we see you.
That answer boils down to “I’ll just encourage my colleagues to do so?” How about, I’m going to recommend that each of us plans to be here quarterly, individually or together. That will ensure 5X the amount of oversight as in 2025.
But, we’re back on Rumeysa? What have we actually learned today? Anything? Today is about trying to make sure that the next Rumeysa doesn’t happen.
That’s 8 mentions of Rumeysa Ozturk. It’s great that she was released. It’s great that she’s resuming her studies. It is indeed a great story. It’s just a VERY OLD STORY. What about all the people that have been abused by ICE since? Don’t they count?
We care and we’re going to make sure that someone comes for you. And that’s what we have to do. Every single time a member of our community, a neighbor is disappeared from their lives. We can’t just operate with business as usual. These are unprecedented times and they require of us unprecedented oversight and unprecedented community.
Question: Congresswoman, you said you saw the food in there. Can you talk a little bit more about what you saw in the food you had reported on someone who said they lost 10 pounds when they were in there and once you comment on the food? I’d love to know what changes today do you want to see in the facility?
Pressley: Well, I think because of oversight there, it’s my understanding there have already been some changes.
Such as…?
… But what I observed were basically TV dinners, microwave meals. We asked about vegetarian options, recognizing that there are people from various walks of life, different religions, you know, are there accommodations for them? There were granola bars and oatmeal cups and pasta dinners that they reheat in the microwave and provide. And so that’s what I saw.
Question: How much advanced time did they have?
Pressley: A week.
Question: Were the toilets private or were they out in the open?
Pressley: The toilets in the in the individual rooms they are not private because it’s glass. But if someone asks to go to the private bathroom they will be escorted to the private bathroom.
She can’t actually believe that. She MUST know by now that ICE lies all the time, right?
And do you think anyone, absolutely anyone would ever choose to use a toilet in full view of other people vs. being escorted to a private bathroom?
Question: Were there Halal and other religiously appropriate foods available for the inmates upon request?
Pressley: I believe they, I we didn’t ask the relig…, as I said we asked the vegetarian question and they said yes, they believe so. We didn’t ask pointedly the halal question. So that’s something we’ll follow up on. But I’ve done a lot of work in that space and ensuring that within our military armed services that people can access halal meals and so that’s a big part of the work that we do anyway just to make sure that things are inclusive.
I’m relieved to hear that our military has halal meals. While that is certainly the right thing, that’s NOT why we have been standing out here on Thursdays for 27 weeks.
Question: Were you able to speak directly with any of the detainees privately?
Pressley: No.
Question (mine): We hear stories repeatedly about people being pressured to sign self-deportation orders, which is clearly illegal, unconscionable. Did you ask about that?
Pressley: We asked, I inquired about what percentage of people that come here to be processed. Again, this is never not to be a detention facility. But I asked what percentage do self-deport? It was a pretty small percentage. There are as each person is processed, they do an intake and they are made aware of their option to self-deport.
I met a man who showed me a form. They wrote “refused to sign on it.” They tried to tell him he’d be in trouble if he didn’t sign. I believe him, 100%. Why would you write “refused to sign”? Isn’t that obvious by the lack of a signature?
… I believe one of the gentlemen that we met with was saying that there were in the beginning a lot of people that came here wanting to self-deport but they weren’t actually eligible because of their because of their backgrounds.
OK, that did not answer my question AT ALL. Let me try again.
Question (mine again): So, what we hear is people being pressured to sign those papers.
Pressley: Let me just say this. I’m always going to take people at their word and not talk people out of what their lived experience is and their trauma. We asked a lot of questions about the self-deporting process. So, I can only offer what was shared with me here today and that is that the percentage of people that self-deport has been smaller because most people were not eligible. However, when people are processed as a part of that intake, they are made aware of that option, and there are posters throughout the facility that let people know what is the eligibility and who to talk to if they would like to explore that.
So, you believe the immigrants and their “lived experience,” but you’re not willing to accuse ICE of doing it?
And you can only offer what you were told today? So the workers of the Allston Car Wash, many of whom reported being pressured to sign papers, can’t be repeated today? Only ICE agents?
Felicita Vasquez, a worker from the Allston Car Wash said, “They were trying to have me sign my deportation. And because I didn’t sign it, they were also talking to my daughter — they gave her the papers so that my daughter would sign for her deportation and my deportation.”
Pressley: My heart is always heavy when I see humans in cages or you know confined. You know, I, of course, my heart is heavy. My heart is heavy that we have a traumatized nation. Look I’ve been in the work of electoral politics for a very long time. I understand that elections have consequences. The Republicans, they have the House, the Senate, the White House, and I could argue they have a Supreme Court that’s complicit in their wholesale harm. And I certainly have my colleagues across the aisle who are not even operating as a party. They are operating as a cult of cowards, complicit in wholesale harm. I think what I can’t wrap my mind around is you have a majority and this is how you choose to use it. Instead of using it to attack affordability and the things that working families actually care about, you are using it to actively attack everyone who calls this country home, governing with contempt for everyone. Everyone has felt the hurt and harm that has been exacted and enacted by this hostile, fascist administration.
That’s the good stuff. Can I have more please? Just stay right here.
So, of course, my heart is heavy. But what I find daily is that within a minute my heart is broken and then it’s made whole again. Particularly when I get to bear witness to the incredible radical community of love that you all have been demonstrating for all these many months. And so I thank you for the citizen oversight that you’re conducting. Thank you for coming. Thank you.
Yes, it is an incredible radical community of love. That is perfect. Thank you.
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