FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
To Prevent Another Catastrophic Year of Deaths in Detention, ICE Must #FreeThemAll
Media Contact: Rebekah Entralgo, rentralgo@freeomforimmigrants.org
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- On the first day of Fiscal Year 2021, Freedom for Immigrants Co-Executive Director, Christina Fialho, released the following statement in response to the the record-breaking 21 deaths in ICE custody during FY 2020:
“This past fiscal year was the deadliest year for immigrants in ICE prisons since 2005. There are 21 grieving families and communities who, were it not for ICE’s irresponsible and abusive practices, would still have their loved ones with them today. It does not have to be this way.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated what we have known to be true about immigration detention for decades: that no one is safe in ICE’s hands. As we and other advocates have documented for years, ICE has a history of medical neglect, sexual abuse, and silencing its critics. During the global pandemic, these reckless practices have only been amplified.
If elected officials want to prevent another year of catastrophic, preventable deaths in ICE detention, they must begin to divest from cages and invest in systems of care that benefit all communities. There is no reason why U.S. taxpayers should fund an immoral system that profits from human suffering when a world without detention is possible and more cost-effective than the status quo. Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity, not detention.”
For more reporting on COVID-19 in immigrant prisons, click here.
To learn more about sponsorship and decarceration, click here.
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