Sen. Tammy Duckworth Calls for Investigation Into Whether ICE Violated Disability Policy

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) has called for an independent investigation into whether U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement violated its policy prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities, after a story by The Daily Beast exposed how ICE agents at a Texas detention center deprived a man of his prosthetic limbs for more than five months. Victor Valladares Diaz, a double amputee who lost an arm and a leg on the journey to be reunited with his family in the United States, spent more than five months in ICE custody without his prosthetic limbs, and was nearly deported without them until The Daily Beast reported his plight. “It is not enough to have good laws in place, effective regulations on the books and high standards if such requirements are regularly violated with impunity,” Duckworth wrote in a letter to DHS Acting Inspector General John Kelly. “It is particularly unacceptable when such abuse comes at the expense of the health and dignity of individuals who are in the custody of the United States Government.”

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