Media Contacts: Rebekah Entralgo rentralgo@freedomforimmigrants.org
JENA, LOUISIANA -- Five South Asian men have reached the 75th day of a hunger strike in the GEO Group-operated LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana where they have been subjected to the tortuous procedure of forced-hydration and force-feeding. According to medical professionals, 75 days without adequate nutrition is when vital organs begin to fail.
On December 19, the Senate voted to approve a government spending package for FY2020. In response, Freedom for Immigrants and Detention Watch Network released the following statement:
“The final spending package includes an increase in the gross budget authorities for both Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The bill also did not place any limitations on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) ability to transfer funds between accounts, meaning that the agency can continue to raid accounts to finance expansion of immigration detention beyond congressionally appropriated levels.
GADSDEN, ALABAMA – In response to a letter addressed to Etowah County Sheriff Jonathon Horton signed by 62 community organizations and a cease and desist letter issued by Freedom for Immigrants on behalf of the Etowah Visitation Project, visitation has resumed at the Etowah Detention Center.
Washington, DC — On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1158 (116), which will allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to continue expanding its detention and deportation force. The bill allows ICE and CBP to continue taking money from other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies and gifts DHS $1.37 billion to continue building deadly border walls.
Media Contact: Rebekah Entralgo, rentralgo@freedomforimmigrants.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
WASHINGTON, DC — Freedom for Immigrants urges Congress to reject a spending bill that will expand the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) detention and deportation apparatus.
Under the proposed FY20 spending bill, both Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) budgets are higher than FY19, with CBP receiving an additional $1.375 billion for the Trump administration’s border wall construction. While ICE’s funding for detention is at the same levels as FY19, the bill proposes an overall budget increase for the agency, from $7.9 billion in FY2019 to a proposed $8.4 billion. Critically, the proposed FY2020 spending bill places no restriction on the administration’s transfer authority. As a result,the already record amount of funding for immigration detention could increase even more. The administration can continue to re-appropriate funds from other DHS agencies — as it has with FEMA, the Coast Guard, and the Department of Defense in the past — to fund its detention and deportation machine.
Although the bill also includes oversight and transparency measures — including the creation of an Immigration Detention Ombudsman — a $20 million funding increase for the Office of Inspector General, increased reporting requirements for DHS, and access to immigrant detention facilities by Members of Congress without prior notice, these measures lack enforcement mechanisms. Without robust means to hold DHS accountable, we fear that we will see a continuation of long-standing patterns of abuse.
“Freedom for Immigrants urges members of Congress to stand with immigrants and vote against a budget that will result in the expansion of an abuse-laden system of mass detention,” said Sarah Gardiner, Policy Director at Freedom for Immigrants.
ICE agents are force-hydrating at least five asylum seekers from India detained at Jena-LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana and force-feeding three men at the El Paso Processing Center in El Paso, Texas. The eight men have been on prolonged hunger strike, some nearing two months without eating.
Media Contact: rentralgo@freedomforimmigrants.org
Freedom for Immigrants today filed a lawsuit in federal court against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over retaliatory attacks on its hotline. The hotline, however, is far from the only FFI resource provided to immigrants in detention that is currently suspended by ICE. The lawsuit details a pattern of retaliation, specifically calling out the current suspension of the Etowah Visitation Project at the Etowah County Detention Center in Alabama.
Los Angeles, CA – December 10, 2019 – Today, Freedom for Immigrants (“FFI”) filed a federal lawsuit to reinstate its National Immigration Detention Hotline (the “Hotline”). As the complaint and corresponding motion for preliminary injunction detail, U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) shut down the Hotline in retaliation for FFI’s exercise of First Amendment rights advocating on behalf of persons in immigration detention.