Political Quotes

“last Friday, Senator Tammy Duckworth, my colleague from Illinois, and I went back home to Illinois, to Broadview, which is a suburb of the city of Chicago. It has become quite well known around the country because it is a detention facility for ICE. I have been there many times in the past. Every Friday morning, two wonderful women, Sister Pat and Sister Joanne, used to go to the Broadview facility and pray a rosary and then go inside and say goodbye to the detainees who were being deported by plane that very morning. It was a peaceful and reassuring experience because so many people were praying for those folks who were going to see their lives turned upside down. The people who ran the facility couldn't have been more cooperative. They had a lawful responsibility, but they did not object to my entering the Broadview facility in years gone by, saying goodbye to the detainees and a few words of encouragement with the nuns who would accompany me. It became kind of a ritual which we were very proud of. How things have changed. How things have changed. Senator Duckworth and I were simply asking if we could go inside and see what the facility looked like. Reports are that there seem to be large groups of people moving through there. There are only two cells and one bathroom. Those are the sorts of things which are part of oversight for us--to look at facilities and make sure they are humane, consistent with our values.”