Washington, DC — Today, House Democrats hosted a virtual forum on the “response” by Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) to the COVID-19 pandemic and current conditions in ICE detention. This hearing comes a week after the death of Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejia, who was detained at Otay Mesa Detention Center, and after a federal judge, earlier this month, described ICE as acting with “deliberate indifference” to the condition of people detained in three south florida detention centers.
To Save Lives, California Must Divest From Criminalization & Incarceration
05.11.2020 - Today, an alliance of key criminal justice, immigrant rights, and public health organizations released The Budget to Save Lives, a detailed proposal highlighting the urgent public health need for the California 2020-21 budget to prioritize decarceration efforts. The package comes as Governor Newsom prepares to release the May revision to the state budget amid a record shortfall caused by the COVID-19 crisis.
Dignity Not Detention Coalition: Heartbreak and outrage follow needless death in ICE detention
2020.5.7 - In the wake of the preventable death yesterday of Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejía from COVID-19, the Dignity not Detention coalition issued the following statement.
We mourn the tragic and needless death of Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejia, a human being trapped in the systematically abusive Otay Mesa Detention Facility, managed by for-profit corporation CoreCivic for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Freedom for Immigrants Launches COVID-19 Detention Hotline
Defund Hate Coalition: Giving Trump More Money for ICE and CBP During the Coronavirus Global Health Crisis Is Exploitative
Over 250 National, State, and Local Advocacy Groups Call on Congress to Cut Funding to ICE and CBP
WASHINGTON — Over 250 national, state, and local advocacy groups and organizations urged Congress to dramatically reduce the budgets of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and to enact strong measures to prevent the Trump administration from diverting additional funds from unrelated government accounts for immigrant detention and border wall construction, in a letter sent today to congressional leaders.
Freedom for Immigrants Calls for Release of Detained Immigrants, Free Video Visitation & Phone Calls in Response to Shutdown of Social Visitation in Immigrant Prisons
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- On the morning of March 13, 2020, visitor volunteers reported to Freedom for Immigrants that they were blocked from social visitation at jails and prisons operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Later that day, ICE announced it has banned all social visitation in immigration detention nationwide.
Immigrant Advocacy Groups File Civil Rights Complaint Against Constitutional & Disability Rights Violations
Freedom for Immigrants (FFI), Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention, and Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC) have filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) on behalf of Mr. Anderson Avisai Gutierrez, a 27-year-old Guatemalan asylum seeker detained at the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana. Despite an attempt to end his own life and severe mental health disabilities, Mr.Gutierrez has been placed in solitary confinement for over eight months, where his mental health has further deteriorated.