Political Quotes

“I rise today in outrage over the negligence that led to the death of Emmanuel Clifford Damas on March 2, 2026. Emmanuel Damas was a 56-year-old Haitian asylum seeker who died after reportedly being denied adequate medical care while in ICE custody after complaining about a toothache to the staff at Florence Correctional Center in Arizona. On March 13, I traveled to the Florence Correctional Center to conduct an oversight visit. I was met by more than a dozen people, including, to my surprise, private counsel for CoreCivic, the company that operates the facility and profits from mass detention. When I asked basic questions about medical staffing, available care, and what happened to Mr. Damas, there was extreme reluctance, especially from the private lawyer. Under DHS leadership, and masterminded by Stephen Miller, the architect of the Trump administration's racist mass deportation agenda, ICE has made it nearly impossible for Members of Congress to do our jobs. Despite following ICE's arbitrary requirements, I was denied the ability to speak with detainees that day. I returned on March 20 and what I learned confirmed the worst. Detainees described Mr. Damas in excruciating pain. They called the medical care 'fatal.' His face had swollen to the size of a potato. He could no longer speak or walk. Night after night, he begged for help but was ignored. ICE only checked his blood pressure. By the time he was taken to the hospital, he could barely breathe.”