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.

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:

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.

WASHINGTON, DC – Following the peaceful protest of Black asylum seekers held at the Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center in Pine Prairie, Louisiana, the Cameroonian American Council (CAC), Freedom for Immigrants, ISLA Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy and Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed a complaint with the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) calling on the agency to immediately halt and investigate the violence and discriminatory practices against Black asylum seekers and for their immediate release from solitary confinement.

MIAMI, FLORIDA — Following two recent COVID-19 related deaths in South Florida ICE prisons, a coalition of immigrant rights organizations will hold a Congressional roundtable on COVID-19 in South Florida’s ICE prisons. Loved ones of persons currently detained will also join the roundtable, including family members of Onoval Perez Montufar, a 51-year-old man who died of COVID-19 complications after being detained in ICE custody at the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven, Florida