WASHINGTON, D.C. —U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), outside the U.S. Capitol and flanked by Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist detained by the Trump administration for alleged visa application misrepresentations and activism, announced the reintroduction of the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act to repeal mandatory immigration detention, prohibit the detention of families and children, and establish oversight mechanisms to for humane treatment and civil rights protections for detained immigrants. Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) co-sponsored the bill with Jayapal.
“Under the Trump Administration, we have seen a shocking surge in the detention of people who have committed no crimes being locked up in increasingly horrifying conditions,” said Rep. Jayapal. “People are being held in squalor, largely in private, for-profit detention facilities, all to pad the bottom lines of prison corporations that donate to Donald Trump and Republicans. As Trump has struck down legal pathways and made it nearly impossible to come to or stay in this country, even for those who have been here for decades, this will only continue to get worse. We must pass this legislation to protect dignity and civil rights in America.”
Rep. Jayapal immigrated to the U.S. at age 16 by herself to attend Georgetown University), where she attained a B.A. in English and Economics; she earned her MBA from Northwestern University in 1990. She became a U.S. citizen in her 20s.
“As an immigrant myself, who came to this country by myself when I was 16 years old with nothing in my pockets, now the ranking member of the Immigration Subcommittee in Congress, this bill and this issue is deeply important to me,” Rep. Jayapal said at Wednesday’s presser. “I’m going to do everything I can to push it to become law and to ensure that the kind of lawlessness that we are seeing today is never tolerated by the United States government again.”
Key provisions of the bill include:
- Repealing mandatory detention requirements;
- Prohibiting the detention of families and children in family detention centers;
- Creating a presumption of release and imposing a higher burden of proof for detaining vulnerable populations, such as pregnant women, survivors of torture or gender-based violence, individuals with serious mental or physical illnesses or disabilities, LGBTQ individuals, asylum seekers, and people over age 60;
- Phasing out the use of private detention facilities and jails over a three-year period;
- Requiring the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to adopt civil detention standards that meet or exceed the American Bar Association’s Civil Immigration Detention Standards;
- Mandating unannounced inspections by the DHS Inspector General, with meaningful penalties for non-compliance; and
- Requiring DHS to allow Members of Congress unannounced access to detention facilities for oversight purposes.
“We are witnessing appalling conditions for immigration detention and a clear disregard for basic human rights,” Rep. Smith wrote in a statement on the bill’s reintroduction. “No one should be subjected to overcrowded cells, denied medical care, or held in facilities that profit off of human suffering. This legislation establishes the oversight and guardrails needed to end these abuses and ensure that people are treated with dignity.”
Today’s reintroduction coincides with heightened national debate on immigration, as the Trump administration advances mass deportation plans and expanded enforcement, prompting Democratic pushback on humanitarian grounds. According to Jayapal, the reintroduction of the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act, comes when there is a surge in detentions since President Donald J Trump’s return to office, with over 66,000 people currently being held—nearly 73% without criminal convictions or with only minor offenses.
Reports detail overcrowding, inadequate food and medical care, and 23 deaths in ICE custody, including discrepancies like the case of Chaofeng Ge, where ICE claimed suicide but his attorney alleged foul play, Jayapal’s Office stated. Jayapal and Smith further argue that for-profit private facilities prioritize profits—bolstered by donations to Trump and Republicans—over human dignity, while the Trump administration has blocked congressional oversight and restarted family detentions, criticized for harming children.
“Detention under this administration has become as a tool for punishment, as a tool for terrorizing communities, to instill fear into U.S. societies,” Khalil, a former ICE detainee said during Wednesday’s presser. “Because ICE is acting as Trump’s militia. They are not a federal agency acting to enforce the law. They are being acting extrajudicially in so many cases.”
Khalil described “dehumanized” treatment in detention and recounted hearing and seeing men cry at night for being label as criminals.
“They couldn’t understand why they are here, why they’re being called criminals, why they are being tarnished in the media,” he said.
Similar versions of the bill have been introduced in past Congresses, including by Jayapal, Smith, and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) in 2023 during the 118th Congress, as well as earlier iterations in 2017 and the 116th Congress in 2019. These efforts sought to reform the for-profit system but did not pass.
“The reintroduction of the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act comes at a critical moment, as the harsh realities of immigration detention are no longer hidden but visible in every empty seat once occupied by a loved one sent to detention,” wrote Jennifer Ibañez Whitlock, Senior Policy Counsel at the National Immigration Law Center in a statement. “Real change will take time, but immigration detention is an urgent threat that demands immediate action. The National Immigration Law Center welcomes the re-introduction of this important bill and urges Congress to act quickly to secure its passage.”
With Republicans now controlling Congress, the bill has garnered 123 Democratic co-sponsors including Washington state Congressional members Emily Randall (WA-06) and Marilyn Strickland (WA-10).
Rep. Jayapal (D-WA07), former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, launched “Resistance Labs” around March 2025 as a mobilization and organizing initiative to counter Trump administration policies. These labs, led by Jayapal, focus on organizational training to counter perceived democratic backsliding and authoritarianism through non-violent means with an aim to get participants “strike-ready and street-ready.”
Author: Mario Lotmore
