***WATCH SENATOR MURRAY’S FULL QUESTIONING HERE***
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, during a Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, joined her Senate colleagues in questioning Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, on President Biden’s annual budget request for the Department.
During the hearing, Senator Murray urged Secretary Mayorkas to take action to address ongoing issues within the current immigration system, such as ensuring individuals in detention centers have access to counsel.
“I was really glad to see the Administration request less funding for detention beds in this budget. This is a step in the right direction and I want to make sure we are doing everything we can to fix our broken immigration system,” began Senator Murray. “I continue to hear that immigrants in detention centers are unable to have confidential conversations with their lawyers, send requested documents in a timely manner, or even have access to functioning phones. Among the existing issues at detention centers, the lack of access to counsel really is unacceptable. I want to ask you today how is the Department making sure individuals in detention centers have access to counsel?”
Mayorkas responded by noting the conditions in detention facilities and compliance with detention standards has been an area of focus under this Administration, and that the Department has closed or curtailed the operations of facilities which have shown consistent failures in adhering to its system. Secretary Mayorkas has met with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement on delivering greater access to counsel for people in facilities—including providing space for consultations, connectivity through telephone or internet, the Department is looking at all of these options with great urgency.
At the hearing, Senator Murray also pressed Secretary Mayorkas on how DHS will take steps to reduce backlog at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and remove barriers to asylum access – especially for individuals in more rural areas.
Senator Murray has pushed for humane immigration reform throughout her entire Senate career. Earlier this year, Senator Murray sent a letter calling on the Biden administration to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) re-designations for El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, in addition to a new TPS designation for Guatemala. Last year, Senator Murray was one of the first senators to make clear that she would pursue every avenue to achieve a pathway to citizenship for all. Senator Murray is also a cosponsor of the Safe Environment from Countries Under Repression and in Emergency (SECURE) Act, which would establish a path to citizenship for immigrants with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED).
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