NEWPORT, KY − A group of Democratic U.S. House members visited a jail in Northern Kentucky that serves as an ICE detention center, saying their constituents who are housed there have reported abuses, including a lack of medical care.
The congressional delegation from Wisconsin, Illinois and Kentucky were at the Campbell County Detention Center near Cincinnati as part of what they called an “oversight visit,” because ICE detainees there hail from throughout the ICE region covering Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kentucky, and Kansas.
U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-IL, told reporters at a press conference after the visit, “The inhumane conditions of this place must stop, which is exactly why I have legislation to end this detention, to redirect the money – your taxpayer dollars to community safety, to housing, to healthcare, to community.”
Longtime Campbell County Jailer James Daley labeled the accusations an “absolute lie” and called the visit “politically motivated.”
“I can tell you that in Campbell County, we’re very cognizant of providing very good medical care to the people at our facility,” he said. “Anything beyond that’s an absolute lie.”
Congress members list concerns
Ramirez said she spoke to two diabetic men at the facility who told her they were not receiving food that met their medical needs. Another person told her he’s on pre-diabetic medicine at the jail despite actually needing insulin.
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-WI, added they received unclear answers from employees about women in ICE custody experiencing miscarriages at the jail.
But she was told about a woman in detention there who miscarried twins when she was five months pregnant. Then, the woman was placed in solitary confinement for several days.
“There doesn’t seem to be any concern about bereavement counseling or any aftercare,” Moore said. “I think they’re being treated like commodities.”
Daley said he could not comment on any particular inmates. But he said there was a situation where a woman returning from a hospital visit was placed in a solitary confinement cell. But that was done, he said, so the woman could be in the medical wing of the jail.
U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey, of Kentucky’s 3rd Congressional District, also attended the jail visit.
Campbell County signed an intergovernmental agreement to house ICE detainees in May 2024, though, it detained fewer than 10 people on behalf of ICE that year.
In 2025, under the Trump administration, Campbell County held more than 1,200 ICE detainees, according to previous Enquirer reporting.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Lawmakers decry ‘inhumane’ ICE conditions in Campbell County jail
Reporting by Jolene Almendarez, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jolene Almendarez, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
