Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Haley Stevens (MI-11)
Washington, D.C. – In case you missed it, Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens, along with Michigan Congresswoman Hillary Scholten, toured the North Lake Processing Center ICE detention facility in Baldwin. The Members followed up with new demands for answers regarding the December death of detainee Nenko Gantchev.
During the visit, the lawmakers inspected living conditions, reviewed medical care protocols, and met with facility leadership to raise concerns about Congressional oversight and detainee health and safety.
Here’s what Michiganders are seeing and reading about Rep. Stevens’ continuous demand for transparency from ICE and her effort to hold the Trump administration accountable for its treatment of individuals in federal custody:
Detroit Free Press: Reps: Questions remain around death of ICE inmate in Michigan facility
By: Arpan Lobo
- Two members of Michigan’s congressional delegation say questions remain surrounding the December death of an inmate at a Baldwin processing facility for those detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
- U.S. Reps. Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham, and Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, said their inquiries to the Department of Homeland Security about the death of Nenko Stanev Gantchev, a 56-year-old native of Bulgaria who died while being held at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, have not been returned.
- “The oversight and the transparency of this center begins at the very top,” Stevens told reporters, who were not allowed inside the facility during the tour. “Unfortunately, the outreach that Congresswoman Scholten and I made to (Noem) went unanswered around the death of Mr. Gantchev.”
MLive: 64 days after man died at Michigan ICE facility, lawmakers say ‘still no answers’’
By: Rose White
- Democratic U.S. Reps. Hillary Scholten and Haley Stevens conducted an oversight visit of the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin on Tuesday, Feb. 17, after their letter demanding a “thorough and transparent investigation” into the death of Nenko Gantchev was ignored by the federal government.
- “We are here today with still no answers about what happened to Mr. Gantchev, why he died here at this ICE processing facility in Baldwin, and we are going to continue to keep asking,” Stevens said.
- “I hope that we can get a full picture of the care and the treatment that he was receiving here and what biological causes or other factors contributed to his death,” she said.
- “That is what I am looking into for so many other Michiganders who are frankly astonished and frustrated and heartbroken that these detainments are going on without answers and with medical situations that are unfolding,” Stevens said.
Michigan Public Radio: ‘We still don’t have answers’: Michigan congresswomen visit ICE detention center in Baldwin
By: Claire Keenan- Kurgan
- Two Michigan congresswomen visited the state’s largest immigrant detention center Tuesday. They are calling for stronger oversight of the Department of Homeland Security
- 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.
In Detroit:
CBS News: Reps. Scholten, Stevens visit Michigan facility after ICE detainee’s death
By: Julia Avant
- “We went through the intake process of what it would be like to be an individual who was being brought in to the ICE detention facility,” Stevens said.
- While Stevens says she also got to talk with those behind bars, including a woman who was arrested in Macomb County and is currently pregnant.
- “She was so shaken and so upset and so fearful missing her young child and of course worried about her pregnancy,” said Stevens.
- “Why we’re using taxpayer dollars in this way? It’s an extraordinary expense, and I think the public is also outraged, as am I,” said Stevens.
- “This is not who we are, this is not what we want in terms of achieving broader safety and security goals, and we can do better if we implement the safety security measures, reform, and the accountability,” said Stevens.
- Congresswomen Haley Stevens and Hillary Scholten toured the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin. It follows lawmakers’ demands for answers after the death of a detainee back in December. Congresswoman Stevens says their conversations with detainees were eye-opening.
- “The oversight and the transparency of this center begins at the very top, and unfortunately, the outreach that Congresswoman Scholten and I made to our Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem went unanswered.”
- Representative Haley Stevens of the Detroit area and Representative Hilary Scholten of Grand Rapids visited North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin in Lake County. That’s after a man died there in December, Nanko Ganchev, a Bulgarian man arrested in Chicago.
- Representative Stevens said she’s lost faith in Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who has not answered any of her questions about Ganchev’s death.
In Flint:
ABC12: ‘Heartbreak’: Congresswoman describes visit to Michigan ICE facility
By: Terry Camp
- “I got a chance to speak to a handful of the people who are detained. The stories range from heartbreaking to frustrating,” Stevens said.
- “What I saw today was not the worst of the worst. In fact, I had to ask about the safety and security,” Stevens said.
- “Do you have weapons on you? Do you carry firearms? No. Do you carry Tasers? No. So if this is the worst of the worst, then why don’t we need our guards? They said no one in the facility has arms,” Stevens said.
- She also sought answers regarding the December death of Nenko Gantchev, a 56-year-old Chicago resident and native of Bulgaria. Officials are still reviewing the autopsy.
- Across Michigan, Congresswoman Haley Stevens touring a detention facility a few months after an individual who was detained there died. Back in December, a Bulgarian citizen whom federal authorities say was in the US illegally and detained in the processing center in Baldwin, died. Stevens says the facility currently holds around 1300 men and 100 women, with most cases ending in deportation.
- “Why we’re using taxpayer dollars in this way. It’s an extraordinary expense, and I think the public is also quite outraged, as am I.”
- Last week, we learned the Department of Homeland Security is buying a facility in Romulus used as another detention facility. Stevens says it was a move that was made without coordination and transparency with local leaders and the surrounding community.
In Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo:
WOOD: Congresswomen Scholten, Stevens tour ICE facility following detainee death
By: Matt Jaworowski
- U.S. Reps. Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, and Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham, toured the North Lake Processing Center in Lake County after asking several questions about the December death of Nenko Gantchev.
- Gantchev, a 56-year-old man from Bulgaria, was found unresponsive in his cell on Dec. 15 and eventually declared dead from natural causes.
- Stevens told UpNorthLive that the tour is meant to get “answers for Nenko Gantchev’s family and demanding accountability from ICE on behalf of all the detainees who are being held in Michigan.”
- Congresswoman Haley Stevens and Hillary Scholten toured the North Lake Processing Center in Lake County Tuesday. They walked through and spoke with some of the detainees. It’s the largest processing center in the Midwest.
- In December, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said a detainee, Nenko Gantchev, was found dead in a cell. ICE said the 56 year old died from natural causes. Scholten and Stevens says the death raises concerns about conditions in the facility.
- Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens and Hillary Scholten toured the ICE detention facility in Baldwin on Tuesday.
- The purpose of their visit was to see firsthand living conditions for detainees and to push for answers in the death of an undocumented immigrant.
- ICE reported 32 in custody deaths in 2025, the agency’s deadliest year in more than 2 decades according to data on its website.
- Stevens and Scholten both expressed their frustrations with the agency, along with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, calling for her impeachment and to demand an immediate overhaul of ICE as the Trump administration continues its immigration crackdown.
- “We’re lawmakers. We need to also roll up our sleeves as we have done for the safety and security of our country, of our state of Michigan, but also to close loopholes and to make sure that we have fair processes and transparency from the top down to the bottom.”
- U.S Representatives Haley Stevens and Hillary Scholten toured the North Lake Processing Center today, to ask questions about an ongoing investigation into the death of a 56 year old detainee named Nenko Gantchev. Gantchev died in December, and ICE said it was due to natural causes.
- “We’re lawmakers, we need to also roll up our sleeves, as we have done, for the safety and security of our country and of our state of Michigan.”
- In addition to touring the facility and talking with a small group of detainees, the lawmakers are also attempting to find out more about the death of 56-year-old Nenko Gantchev. A Bulgarian national who died in the Lake County detention center. Gantchev’s family in Chicago has accused The GEO Group of not providing adequate medical treatment to Gantchev. That accusation is just one of many.
- After hearing about his death, Stevens and Scholten requested that Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem and acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, investigate Gantchev’s death. They said more than 100 detainees wanted to speak with lawmakers, but they only spoke with four.
- “There are unanswered questions around Mr. Gantchev’s death, and his family and his loved ones, and people who have been frankly impacted or touched by his life story, they deserve answers.”
- “I remain disappointed in Secretary Noem. I have lost faith in her leadership and her ability to run the Department of Homeland Security, and we are still waiting for answers from her.”
In Lansing:
- Representatives, Hillary Scholten and Haley Stevens of Michigan toward an ICE detention facility in Baldwin, where a man died in custody last December. Nenko Gantchev, a 56 year old from Bulgaria, was found unresponsive in his cell at the North Lake Processing Center on December 15.
- ICE says he died from natural causes. But the Representatives want more answers.
- Haley Stevens and Hillary Scholten toured the North Lake Processing Center near Baldwin after an ICE detainee Nenko Gantchev died there in December. ICE officials say the 56 year old died of natural causes, but both Congresswomen sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, saying that the death of Gantchev and other reports of mistreatment show the need for urgent answers and reforms.
- “Secretary Noem for her actions at DHS, I, along with over 150 of my colleagues, believe that she is unfit for her role, that she has failed the American public.”
- Representative Stevens and Scholten say they plan to come back and make follow up visits to the facility in the future.
In Alpena:
- In December, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said a detainee, Nenko Gatnchev, was found dead in a cell in the detention facility. He was a 56 year old from Bulgaria and was arrested in Chicago.
- ICE says his death was from natural causes. Representatives Stevens and Scholten are pushing for answers, as they say they haven’t been given any further details about Gantchev’s death.
- “There are unanswered questions around Mr. Gantchev’s death and his family and his loved ones and people who have been frankly impacted or touched by his life story. They deserve answers.”
- Both lawmakers say the death raised concerns about conditions. One of the four detainees they spoke to said they have been mistreated in the facility.
In Traverse City:
9 and 10 News: Lawmakers seek answers in detainee death at ICE facility in Baldwin
By: Jodi Miesen
- U.S. Reps. Haley Stevens and Hillary Scholten toured the ICE detention center in Baldwin and said they are seeking more transparency after the death of a detainee at the facility.
- “Unfortunately, the outreach that Congresswoman Scholten and I made to our Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem went unanswered, around the death of Mr. Gantchev,” Stevens said.
- Stevens and Scholten said they decided to visit in person after receiving no response to their message to Noem. They said they were given a tour as if they were coming in as a detainee, and said it was a planned visit that made it difficult to assess what day-to-day conditions are like.
- Stevens and Scholten said they are calling for an overhaul of how ICE conducts its operations, and Stevens said she supports impeaching Noem.
- “Secretary Noem, for her actions at DHS, I, along with over 150 of my colleagues, believe that she is unfit for her role, that she has failed the American public. The mismanagement that we are seeing of ICE begins with her,” Stevens said.
UpNorthLive: Reps. Stevens, Scholten tour Lake County ICE facility after detainee death in December
By: Kody Bair
- United States Representatives Haley Stevens and Hillary Scholten toured the North Lake Processing Center in Lake County Tuesday, seeking answers after a detainee died at the ICE detention facility in December. The lawmakers walked through the building and spoke with detainees.
- They said nearly 100 detainees requested to speak with them, but they were told those conversations could not be in private.
- The facility, owned by the GEO Group, has 1,800 beds. As of January, it has an average of 1,420 people being held per day, with 1,272 classified as non-criminal.
- “There are unanswered questions around Mr. Gantchev’s death and his family and loved ones and people who have been frankly impacted or touched by his life story, they deserve answers,” Representative Stevens said.
- She said she is calling for a complete overhaul of ICE nationwide, starting with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
- “I, along with over 150 of my colleagues, believe that she’s unfit for her role, that she has failed the American public. She’s unfit for office and the mismanagement that we are seeing of ICE begins with her,” Stevens said.
- Two members of Michigan’s congressional delegation are expressing concern about a lack of transparency from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. This came after they toured North Lake Processing Center yesterday, the largest ICE detention center in the Midwest.
- Representative Hillary Scholten of Grand Rapids and Representative Haley Stevens of the Detroit area spoke with four of the 1,500 detainees there.
- “In terms of our congressional oversight, we need to ask why a private company is making money and profiting off of keeping people in detainment when they may have been granted release or bail,”
- “There are unanswered questions around Mr. Gantchev’s death, and his family and his loved ones, and people who have been impacted by his life story, they deserve answers.”
- The facility is owned by The GEO Group, and it’s the largest of its kind in the Midwest, with 1,800 beds. The lawmakers claim nearly 100 detainees requested to speak with them, but as they push for transparency, they were reportedly told the conversations could not be held in private.
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