A fault-finding hearing held Friday by the Alaska House Judiciary Committee veered into political theater as Committee Chair Rep. Andrew Gray (D-Anchorage) repeatedly cited outdated federal guidance to raise concerns made by Democrats about the conditions of illegal immigrants detained at the Anchorage Correctional Complex.
Gray’s comments during the hearing largely centered around a 2019 document issued during the Trump administration, which Gray treated as current and binding policy on how Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees must be held. However, that document was superseded in 2024, when a new updated guidance document was published under President Joe Biden. Again in 2025, a newer document superseded the older one, and addressed the protection of women ICE detainees from being housed with men dressing as women.
Despite this, Gray quoted extensively from the 2019 document and presented its contents as mandatory requirements for detainee treatment. He focused on specific elements such as the number of hours detainees are allowed outdoors, access to legal counsel, the cleanliness of detainee underwear, access to attorneys and phones, access to religious practices, and other living conditions within the facility.
Gray strongly implied that the state Department of Corrections may be violating federal standards, despite the fact that no such updated standard supports his claims in any material way. The ACLU is suing the state over the detention contract with ICE.
During the hearing, Gray frequently read from his phone, at times appearing to receive real-time input from individuals outside the hearing room, believed to be immigration attorneys and NGO advocates.
Gray’s line of questioning did not acknowledge the updated 2025 policy document, nor did he provide a clear explanation for why the outdated 2019 guidance was being treated as operative and had been uploaded into the committee’s document tab online for the hearing.
The hearing also included a written exchange with Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor, who was asked by Gray to respond to a written list of questions. Those documents, now part of the official record, reveal Taylor’s position that the Anchorage Correctional Complex is operating within the scope of both state and federal law, and that detainees have been afforded access to legal resources, appropriate living conditions, and other standards consistent with current ICE contractual obligations.
The Anchorage Correctional Complex currently houses about 40 ICE detainees under a preexisting contract with the federal government. The facility is required to comply with ICE’s latest detention standards, which allow for some flexibility in how states implement those standards, depending on local facility capabilities and contractual agreements. Democrats are using the contract as a way to drive a knife in the Department of Corrections.
It remains unclear whether any formal action will result from the hearing, other than whatever the ACLU and like-minded lawyer groups will find useful in lawsuits.
The hearing documents, including the questions from Gray and written responses from Attorney General Taylor, are now available on the documents tab at the Alaska Legislature’s committee page.