Bennie Thompson

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Whistleblower reports detailing inhumane and illegal detention conditions at multiple ICE holding facilities are appalling.

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ICE has demonstrated a pattern of misusing tools and devices in manners that put the public at greater risk of serious injury or death. As we have raised in previous letters, DHS personnel have also permanently injured and nearly killed innocent people with so-called "less-lethal" weapons, not unlike the G.L.O.V.E. We urge you to halt this procurement before more innocent lives are lost.

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This footage and the incident it depict are deeply concerning. They echo the larger pattern of dishonesty and dangerous, unjustified escalation we have unfortunately seen from DHS agents across the country, which resulted in the tragic deaths of Ruben Ray Martinez, Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Joan Sebastian Durán Guerrero, and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. What happened to Carolina Molina cannot be dismissed as an ordinary interaction between ICE and a member of the public. We therefore request that the FBI conduct a formal investigation into this incident, and that the DOJ Civil Rights Division evaluates those findings.

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Today’s hearing made clear that the Durán family deserves accountability and justice for Johan Sebastián’s death. ICE cannot continue using reckless and deadly force without consequence.

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Well, I would hope that the feds have been called. They should be. Sometimes our local authorities don't have the capacity to conduct those kinds of investigations. There's some concerns based on the second autopsy that some of the things that have been outlined were not outlined in the first autopsy, which creates additional suspicion.

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Given Mississippi's history, it's very suspicious. For a young Black boy to, basically, be with all white kids who are friends of his and come up missing and the fact that he was left on an island by the same people who went with him, it's just not adding up.

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will vote against funding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE