In a press event in D.C. this week, Arizona Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari, a Democrat, told reporters more oversight and immediate medical attention is needed inside Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers nationwide.
The event comes almost week after her latest visit to the Eloy Detention Center, south of Phoenix, where she met with immigrants like Arbella Rodríguez Márquez — a long-time Phoenix resident who goes by Yari.
“Yari was diagnosed with cancer over 10 years ago, and has not been able to see a specialist since she was detained in February. She is coughing up blood, too weak to stand, experiencing numbing, and has lost 55 pounds,” Ansari said.
Ansari said the detention center has failed to provide an oncologist for Márquez to see, and has instead supplied only Tylenol and stomach ulcer medication. She said Márquez was one of 98 people she spoke with during a visit last Saturday.
She said that “98 people who could now face retaliation wanted to share their stories with me and my team. When we started speaking to them, women described being forced to melt ice for water, because the water they’re given has chlorine in it, giving them rashes all over their bodies.”
Ansari’s comments come just days after the death of Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, a 32-year-old Mexican national from Flagstaff who had been detained at the Central Arizona Correctional Center in Florence since July.
ICE says Batrez Vargas died on Aug. 31 at a hospital in Mesa, but said his cause of death is unknown and under investigation. His death marks the 12th in ICE detention so far this year.
Earlier this year, Ansari wrote to Homeland Security, calling on the agency to address a lack of medical care and other issues reported inside the Arizona facilities. But says she hasn’t received any response.
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