Media Contact: Rebekah Entralgo, rentralgo@freedomforimmigrants.org
WASHINGTON, DC — Freedom for Immigrants is proud to support the office of Representative Jason Crow (CO-6) joined by Sylvia Garcia (TX-29) and Veronica Escobar (TX-16) in leading the introduction of the End Transfers of Detained Immigrants Act in the House of Representatives. Companion legislation was introduced in the Senate on September 25 by Senators Michael Bennet (D–CO) and Jeff Merkley (D–OR).
The bill would halt ICE’s dangerous practice of conducting transfers during the COVID-19 pandemic, including moving people between immigration detention centers and moving them from jails and prisons into immigration detention. The bill would also require ICE to ensure social distancing in its facilities at all times or release sufficient numbers of people to facilitate social distancing.
As Freedom for Immigrants has consistently documented through our national monitoring program since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, transfers to and from ICE prisons have directly led to COVID-19 outbreaks both within detention and our broader communities, directly causing deaths and jeopardizing public health for all of us. In several cases, transfers have led to deaths in detention, making fiscal year 2020 the deadliest for immigrants in ICE custody in over a decade. Recently, transfers have become a tool for the White House to conduct mass deportations of Black immigrants.
“ICE transfers are deadly and irresponsible: full stop. The process worsened the COVID-19 pandemic and resulted in a record number of deaths in ICE detention,” said Sarah Gardiner, policy director at Freedom for Immigrants. “A moratorium on transfers during the COVID-19 pandemic—combined with policies that echo the demands of the movement to #FreeThemAll— is necessary to save lives as the current administration continues to recklessly act in a manner that is increasing COVID-19 transmission rates for all, including immigrants.”
“In our district, we’ve seen firsthand how unnecessary detainee transfers between facilities can increase the risk of COVID-19 exposure and other communicable disease. In May, I called on the Department of Homeland Security to end this practice because of the threat it posed to the health of detainees, staff, and our community’s public health,” said Rep. Jason Crow. “This bill is driven by our community’s experience and commitment to immigrants in our care. If there are measures we can take to prevent the spread of the virus and protect our health, we should take them. This bill is as common sense as it is necessary in the fight against COVID-19.”
The bill is endorsed by 63 national, state, and local organizations, including: Freedom for Immigrants; Detention Watch Network; American Immigration Lawyers Association; Church World Service; American Friends Service Committee; Alianza Americas; New York Immigration Coalition; Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP); South Asian Americans Leading Together; Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA); Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC); Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund; Southeast Immigrant Rights Network; Bridges Faith Initiative; Southeast Asia Resource Action Center; Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC; Planned Parenthood Federation of America; T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights; Latin America Working Group (LAWG); Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center; Farmworker Association of Florida; Alianza Nacional de Campesinas; Community Asylum Seekers Project; California for Bernie Sanders 2020; Women for Justice; Prairielands Freedom Fund; Queer Detainee Empowerment Project SOLACE Visitation Program; Advocate Visitors with Immigrants in Detention; Etowah Visitation Project; Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition; Conversations with Friends; Guadalupe Presbyterian Church Detention Ministry; Kern Welcoming and Extending Solidarity to Immigrants; SCPK; Immigrant Action Alliance; The Mami Chelo Foundation Inc; Riverside Sojourners Detention Visitation; Bristol County for Correctional Justice; Cenla – AID; Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants; Refugee Support Network; NH Conference United Church of Christ Immigrant and Refugee Support Group; Workers Center of Central New York; Cape Cod Coalition for Safe Communities; Adelanto Visitation Network; Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights; Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition; Cleveland Jobs with Justice; Reformed Church of Highland Park; Deportation and Immigration Response Equipo; Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War; Desert Support for Asylum Seekers; Iowa Unitarian Universalist Witness and Advocacy Network; Iowans for Immigrant Freedom; Connecticut Shoreline Indivisible; Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus; Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago; El Refugio; Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta; Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus; Friends of Immigrants; Transcend Arizona
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