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August 14, 2026

WATCH: Pressley, McGovern, Lynch Conduct Unannounced Oversight Visit of Plymouth ICE Facility, Renew Calls for Accountability

Pressley Has Conducted Oversight of ICE Facilities in MA and Across the Country, Advocated for Children Detained by ICE, Named Impacted Families as Honorary State of the Union Guests

Pressley Has Stood in Vigorous Defense of Immigrant Communities, Fought to Bring Detained Neighbors Home, and Led Efforts to Address Childhood Trauma

Media Availability (YouTube) | Photos (Dropbox)

PLYMOUTH, MA – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), alongside Congressmen James P. McGovern (MA-02) and Stephen F. Lynch (MA-08), conducted an unannounced Congressional oversight visit of the Plymouth County Correctional Facility—the only facility in Massachusetts currently holding civil immigration detainees on a long-term basis. Federal law gives members of Congress the authority to conduct unannounced oversight visits of ICE detention facilities without providing advance notice.

Following their visit, the lawmakers held a media availability calling for the release of individuals unlawfully imprisoned there and accountability for the harm and trauma caused by Trump and ICE’s campaign of terror. Congresswoman Pressley also called for the release of her constituent Darwin, whose fiancée joined the lawmakers following the visit, and who has suffered from traumatic physical injuries and treatment in prior ICE custody and reported lack of access to health assistive devices, potable water, and nourishing food at the Plymouth facility.

“Under this cruel, lawless Trump administration, families are being separated, children are traumatized, and our communities are suffering,” said Congresswoman Pressley. “I came to Plymouth to conduct an oversight visit of a major detention facility in our state, check on my constituents, and demand accountability of ICE as they deny the humanity and rights of our community members. Learning of the trauma experienced by innocent individuals like my constituent Darwin and his fiancé are a damning reminder of the injustice of these detentions and the need to abolish ICE, end qualified immunity for ICE agents, and stop Trump and ICE’s campaign of terror. Today, I am more resolute than ever in my fight for the freedom, dignity, and humanity of our immigrant neighbors.”

“In 2018, I became the first Member of Congress to demand that we abolish ICE,” said Congressman McGovern. “After hearing heartbreaking stories today at the Plymouth detention facility from folks who were abducted by ICE on their way to work and ripped away from their families, my resolve to abolish ICE has never been stronger. Under orders from the Trump administration, masked federal agents are terrorizing our communities, stalking our streets, and executing American citizens in broad daylight with impunity. Any American with a conscience must join us in calling for this rogue agency to be abolished, for ICE agents to be held accountable, and for the human rights and dignity of immigrants to be respected without condition.”

“While President Trump claims that ICE operations are targeting the “worst of the worst,” the individuals in ICE custody that we met with today included a police officer and construction workers who were on the job with valid work permits and active Social Security numbers. In fact, many of the individuals in ICE detention at the Plymouth Correctional Facility have open immigration cases and prior to their arbitrary arrests, were seeking to comply with the formal processes governing applications for immigrant visas, asylum, and humanitarian parole. Absent substantive reforms including body camera requirements, a prohibition on agents wearing masks, the termination of arbitrary enforcement operations, and the adoption of humane use of force standards, ICE will continue to operate outside the law and we must keep fighting to oppose agency funding,” said Rep. Lynch. “We must also keep exercising our legal right, as Members of Congress, to conduct unannounced oversight inspections of ICE detention facilities to better ensure that individuals in custody are treated humanely and that ICE is transparent and accountable to the American people.” 

In Congress, Congresswoman Pressley has been a leading voice in pushing back against Trump, defending our immigrant neighbors, and calling for ICE to be abolished. Rep. Pressley has visited individuals behind the wall at detention facilities in Texas, Louisiana, and Massachusetts and leads legislation to bring accountability to families whose loved ones have been murdered and harmed by ICE agents, including the DHS Use of Force Transparency Act and the Qualified Immunity Abolition Act.

A transcript of Congresswoman Pressley’s remarks is available below and the video from the media availability is available here. Photos from the visit are available here.

Transcript: Rep. Pressley’s Remarks Following Unannounced Oversight Visit of Plymouth ICE Facility

U.S. House of Representatives

August 14, 2026

Well, and let me just, you know—I know technically they are characterized as detainees—but just to center their humanity, today we met with Jose, we met with Alexis, we met with Darwin.

These are sons. These are fathers. These are husbands. Men who are loved by their families, whose labor is valued and essential to the functioning of our communities and our economies. They are sorely missed by their families, and they desperately miss their families.

Jose, for example, 30 years old, has a four-year-old and a two-year-old. He’s never met his two-year-old daughter Ariella—Ariela, rather. And as Jim mentioned, he was a police officer in Ecuador, and in his time spent here, he has worked in construction.

We met with, with Darwin and Alexis, and both talked about how they miss working, and they’re, they’re eager to get back to work. They find dignity in their work, they take pride in their work. They take pride in the role that they play, many of them as the sole breadwinners in their families, not only their families here, but money that they are sending back to countries like Ecuador, Honduras.

I asked about where are most of the detainees from, and the countries were Guatemala, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Honduras, with some rare exceptions.

But what is very clear is that this is a waste of money and a waste of time. And for what? We have separated families. We are causing trauma, and we have people that are providing valuable contributions to community, of which we are all being denied.

So it is a tremendous injustice to these families and a great disservice to our communities writ-large.

One of the, one of the men that we met with, Darwin. This is his fiancé Angelina, and I’m going to turn things over to her in a moment. But I want to say two things.

I’ve said repeatedly that our strategy as a Democratic caucus is litigation, legislation, agitation, when necessary, and mobilization.

The reason we could do this unannounced visit today is because of litigation initiated by our task force, and because that, the court sided with Joe Neguse, Congressman Neguse, and the rest of us who signed on to that—that is why we could do this today.

So, although the work of litigation can move more slowly than we would like, that is why we could do this unannounced visit today.

Secondly, I reinforced for Jose, Alexis, and Darwin that there are people who’ve never met them, who care about them, and are fighting for their freedom. And they all expressed the relief that they felt in knowing that, that they had not been forgotten.

And so, in that aim, I also want to acknowledge that since two of the gentlemen here who were arrested and detained were picked up in Vermont, and so we made sure they knew that Senator Welch and Senator Sanders, that we were here, you know, in their stead, and again that there are people working vigorously on their behalf.

And so I now turn it over to Angelina to tell more of Darwin’s story.

—

As immigrant communities have been under siege by the Trump administration, Rep. Pressley has been a leading voice in pushing back and defending our immigrant neighbors.

In the Massachusetts 7th, Rep. Pressley has supported the many families torn apart and children suffering from the detention of a loved one—including harrowing attacks on Massachusetts families in their daily lives, abductions of dedicated workers at the Allston car wash, visiting Tufts graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk during her unlawful detention and pushing to bring her home, and more.

Rep. Pressley has shone light on the inhumane attacks by ICE on immigrant communities and pushed back against the reckless agency. During Oversight Democrats’ bicameral shadow hearing on the use of violence by ICE, Rep. Pressley highlighted the urgency of the moment by uplifting stories of traumatized community members she met with during her trip to Minnesota with Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-05) and invoking the horrifying detention case of five-year-old Liam Ramos.

Rep. Pressley has stridently condemned the trauma that Trump’s terror ICE campaign is forcing upon children. Rep. Pressley’s advocacy to protect children from abuse and trauma dates back to her days as a Boston City Councilor. In her first term in Congress, she partnered with the late Chairman Elijah Cummings to hold the first Congressional hearing on childhood trauma on the Committee on Oversight and Reform.

Rep. Pressley leads the STRONG Support for Children Act, which would support communities in addressing childhood trauma through healing-centered, neighborhood-based, gender-responsive, culturally specific, and trauma-informed approaches that acknowledge the impact of systemic racism and inequities over generations.

During her time in Congress, Congresswoman Pressley has been a leading advocate for a just and humane criminal legal system, and has visited prisons in Louisiana, Texas, California, and Massachusetts to hear from detainees, advocate for them, and conduct oversight on the conditions in which they are being detained. Rep. Pressley’s visit to Louisiana is a continuation of her advocacy for a People’s Justice Guarantee, her comprehensive, decarceration-focused resolution that outlines a framework for a fair, equitable and just legal system.

  • In January 2026, Rep. Pressley and Senator Markey held a field hearing with members of the Haitian community on the importance of extending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti. Testimony was documented in the Congressional Record.
  • In January 2026, at the invitation of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Congresswoman Pressley went to Minneapolis to meet with organizers and community members impacted by ICE’s violent operation in Minnesota, where they have murdered bystanders, terrorized schools and small businesses, and abducted children and parents.
  • Following the ICE murder of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Congresswoman Pressley and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced the Qualified Immunity Abolition Act of 2026, which builds on the lawmakers’ prior work by granting victims the right to sue federal law enforcement officers—not just state and local—for civil rights violations and abolishing the defense of qualified immunity in these suits. The expanded legislation would help deliver accountability for families abused by law enforcement, including ICE agents.
  • Congresswoman Pressley delivered a floor speech on the need to end qualified immunity for federal law enforcement, including immigration officers. Watch the floor speech here.
  • In January 2026, Congresswoman Pressley condemned the ICE murder of Renee Good in Minnesota and motioned to subpoena all records and footage related to the shooting, but Republicans obstructed it. Footage of Congresswoman Pressley’s motion to subpoena is here.
  • In December 2025, Rep. Pressley convened and welcomed home the workers and families impacted by the cruel and unlawful ICE raid at an Allston car wash in November. Rep. Pressley delivered a powerful speech on the House floor condemning the Allston ICE raid and defended the vibrant immigrant communities who are being maliciously stolen from their homes, ripped from their families, and unlawfully detained and deported by the Trump Administration and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
  • In June 2025, Congresswoman Pressley convened immigrant justice advocates, local leaders, and impacted families to tell Donald Trump and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): Hands off our immigrant neighbors. 
  • Rep. Pressley has also been an outspoken critic against the unlawful detention of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts PhD student, Somerville resident, and constituent of the Congresswoman’s who was unlawfully detained for weeks in retaliation for her protected speech. After weeks of advocacy and Congressional oversight, including a visit to detention centers in Louisiana, Rep. Pressley and Senator Ed Markey welcomed Ms. Öztürk to Massachusetts following her arrival from ICE detention in Louisiana.

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