LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — Freedom for Immigrants Deputy Executive Director Layla Razavi issued the following statement in response to the 2020 presidential election results:
“The past four years have laid bare the stark reality that the U.S. immigration detention system cannot be reformed. It must be abolished.
NEW JERSEY - Last week, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed a bill to implement emergency public health credits in order to release thousands of people nearing the end of their sentences from incarceration during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While this legislation is an important step toward reducing detention levels to comply with public health guidance and ensure the safety of our communities, nothing in the bill prevents non-citizens eligible for release from being transferred into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention.
WASHINGTON – Despite the global pandemic which has slowed most international travel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is accelerating the deportation of Black migrants to countries they fled, retaliating against those who speak out about abuses in detention. On October 13, a group of nearly 60 Cameroonian and 28 Congolese immigrants were deported despite grave concerns for their safety voiced by the immigrants themselves, their lawyers and loved ones.
San Diego, CA - Today, U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino issued a final ruling largely upholding AB 32, California’s ban on private prisons and detention centers, except as applied to private US Marshal facilities. Under the ruling, five immigration detention centers in the state would be phased out in the coming years.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA—On Friday, October 9th, the Ninth Circuit will hold oral arguments for Immigrant Legal Resource Ctr., Freedom for Immigrants v. McFarland, Geo Group, Inc. The GEO Group appealed the case to the Ninth Circuit after a district court judge issued a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking the private prison company’s plan to expand immigration detention in Kern County.
WASHINGTON – Freedom for Immigrants, Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Detention Watch Network (DWN), Natchez Network, Haitian Bridge Alliance, and Families for Freedom, together filed a multi-individual complaint with the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) and DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG), condemning the agency for deploying excessive force to coerce Cameroonian asylum seekers into signing their own deportation papers.
Gadsen, AL — Freedom for Immigrants and the Etowah Visitation Project filed a lawsuit today demanding an end to blatant violations of free speech and the full restoration of the visitation program. The lawsuit was filed in response to years of retaliation by the Sheriff’s Office against visitor volunteers, people in ICE detention at the Etowah County Jail, and activists for speaking out about the abuses and torturous conditions inside the facility.