[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 151 (Tuesday, September 16, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H4317]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 VISIT TO BLUEBONNET DETENTION FACILITY

  (Ms. Johnson of Texas was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Ms. JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, earlier this month, I visited the 
Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson, Texas, about 3 hours outside of 
Dallas. What I saw was deeply disturbing. It speaks to the harmful 
policies under Donald Trump and Secretary Noem, policies that are 
ripping families apart, wasting taxpayer dollars, and making our 
communities less safe.
  Bluebonnet was built to house prisoners under the Texas Department of 
Criminal Justice, but in 2019 the first Trump administration handed a 
contract to a private prison company to convert it into an ICE 
detention center. Today, instead of prioritizing dangerous criminals, 
those who commit rape, murder, or trafficking drugs, people who pose 
real threats to our communities, ICE is filling this facility with 
people who have done absolutely nothing wrong and are being targeted 
simply because of the color of their skin.
  As a Member of Congress and as a member of the Homeland Security 
Committee, I have both the right and the responsibility to see what is 
happening inside these facilities. For years, Members of Congress could 
visit unannounced, but under Secretary Noem, that right was stripped 
away. My team and I worked for weeks just to gain entry and finally got 
a scheduled appointment.
  When I visited, 1,079 people were being detained at Bluebonnet. 
Nearly 700 of them, almost two-thirds, were designated by ICE itself as 
a low threat. Let me repeat: Hundreds of people with no violent 
history, no record of serious crimes, targeted solely because of the 
color of their skin, were denied their constitutional rights and then 
locked away in a detention center.
  I met with several detained individuals. Here is a common story that 
we came across. A man came here more than two decades ago and worked a 
blue-collar job. He raised his family in Texas. He has children whom he 
loves and who depend on him. He hasn't committed any violent crimes or 
sold any drugs. His only offense was a traffic stop. Now, he faces 
deportation to a country he left decades ago.
  My question is: How is this fair? Why are people who are contributing 
to our economy, who are working hard and making sure that our citizens 
are being taken care of, being targeted instead of all of the violent 
criminals?
  This is what is happening under Trump. They are not prioritizing 
threats to public safety. They are not going after violent offenders. 
They are taking workers out of our economy. They are spreading fear in 
communities where families should feel safe, and they are doing it with 
our taxpayer dollars.
  Let me be very clear. Locking up people who pose no danger to our 
communities does not make us safer. It weakens us. It destabilizes 
families. It wastes resources that should be used to pursue violent 
criminals, traffickers, and those who actually endanger our neighbors.
  As I left the detention center that day, an employee from ICE made 
one request: Stop politicizing us.
  It is the White House that needs to hear this message most of all. 
Trump and Secretary Noem are not using taxpayer dollars to keep 
communities safe; they are using it as political theater. They dress up 
in ICE jackets, parade through detention centers, and turn detainees 
into props for their campaigns.
  This isn't law enforcement. It is performance. It makes a mockery of 
our justice system by prioritizing sensational videos over safety and 
cruelty over compassion. This is political theater at the expense of 
human lives.
  We need a smarter and fairer approach. That means alternatives to 
detention that allow people to remain with their families while their 
case moves forward. It means investing in an immigration system that is 
fair, fast, and final so that people can have their cases heard in 
front of a judge and are not left in limbo for years. It means 
prioritizing dangerous individuals, not hardworking parents who have 
built their lives in our communities.
  People who play by the rules, follow the law, and adhere to the 
guidelines laid out before them should never be targeted because of the 
color of their skin and denied due process. Our society should not 
accept this, and this administration needs to put a stop to this 
injustice.
  That is what I saw at Bluebonnet, a betrayal of our values as a 
nation. We are a country of immigrants. We are a country that claims to 
honor family, community, and fairness. Yet, the Trump administration is 
locking up people who are simply trying to work, raise families, and 
contribute to our community. This is not about fairness or safety, and 
it is not who we claim to be as Americans.
  Congress must step up and hold this administration accountable. We 
must work in a bipartisan way to build an immigration system that keeps 
people safe and ensures that people's rights are respected. Locking up 
neighbors who pose no threat does not make us stronger. It divides us. 
It weakens us, and it undermines everything that we stand for.

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