Representative Haley Stevens, of the Detroit area, and Representative Hillary Scholten, of Grand Rapids, visited North Lake Processing Center, in Baldwin in Lake County.
That’s after a man died there in December, Nenko Gantchev, a Bulgarian man arrested in Chicago.
Representative Scholten said she saw no glaring issues with conditions at the facility … but that the staff there had had advanced notice that they were coming:
“We know that an individual has died in this facility, and we still don't have answers as to why, and that that is important not to lose sight of just because, you know, things looked in order today, right? Doesn't mean that's always how it existed.”
By law, members of Congress are allowed to tour all immigration detention facilities unannounced, but the Trump administration has disputed that.
Representative Stevens said she has lost faith in Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who has not answered any of her questions about Gantchev’s death at North Lake.
