Pressroom

Washington, DC — Today, Detention Watch Network (DWN) is relaunching the Communities Not Cages campaign and renewing its call to shut down Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers and stop the expansion and construction of new facilities. With over a 100 DWN members, the support of 100 organizational campaign cosponsors across the country, and members of Congress, Communities Not Cages is amplifying local community organizing to end ICE detention while illuminating the dangers of the Trump administration’s multi-layered detention expansion plan. Campaign organizers…

Washington, DC — Members of Congress are lending their support of Detention Watch Network’s (DWN) Communities Not Cages campaign relaunch, renewing calls to shut down Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers and stop the expansion of facilities as constituents across the country denounce the Trump administration’s cruel mass detention and deportation agenda that was just supercharged with the passage of the MAGA megabill. The bill provides a shocking $150 billion for the targeting, detention, and deportation of people, including $45 billion for ICE detention to detain…

Washington, DC - In response to news that the Trump administration has declared millions of immigrants ineligible for a bond hearing, Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network issued the following statement: “Let’s be clear about what this new policy means: millions of undocumented immigrants in the US could be denied due process rights and can be detained indefinitely. This is tragic, infuriating, and yet another example of how Trump is using immigration detention as a testing ground for authoritarianism. “More than 57,000 people are now in ICE custody, the highest number in…

Washington, DC — The Senate passed the Trump and MAGA-backed megabill that will substantially increase Trump’s cruel mass detention and deportation agenda and make Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) the largest interior law enforcement agency in the US. The bill provides a shocking $150 billion for immigration enforcement – the targeting, detention, and deportation of people – including $45 billion for ICE to detain families and adults over the next four years at the expense of vital programs for all Americans. The bill now moves back to the House for a final vote. The distribution of…

Ochopee, Florida—Communities Indigenous to Florida, such as the Miccosukee Tribe, with the support of the Florida Detention Coalition, are resisting the opening of an immigrant detention center at the Miami-Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport in Florida. The facility, which Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier calls “Alligator Alcatraz,” would cost the state $450 million to operate and is planned to open next month. According to news reports, construction is entirely underway as law enforcement and other vehicles have been seen transporting portable restrooms and industrial…

Washington, DC — More than 56,000 people are now in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) custody, the highest number in history. This alarming spike - a 12 percent increase in just two weeks and 40 percent in just five months - comes amid Trump’s increasingly authoritarian escalation to carry out his multi-layered, mass detention and deportation agenda. Just this past month, targeted raids in Los Angeles received widespread condemnation and sparked nation-wide protests, while Trump and Stephen Miller initiated “ Operation At Large” to aggressively target people with a 3,000 person per…

Washington, DC — The American Civil Liberties Union, Detention Watch Network, and the National Immigrant Justice Center today released a new guide for members of Congress to conduct vital in-person oversight visits of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities in their districts and states. The Trump administration is attempting to suppress and deter authorized congressional oversight of immigration detention facilities – in contravention of appropriations law that has been in place for years. Last week, Representatives Danny K. Davis, Jesús “Chuy” García, Delia C. Ramirez…

Los Angeles, CA — In response to Alex Padilla, a sitting U.S. Senator, being forcibly removed from a press conference with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Krisiti Noem, Carly Pérez Fernández, Communications Director at Detention Watch Network issued the following statement: “The violent targeting of a sitting US Senator is the undertaking of an unmistakably authoritarian regime, full stop. This is a blatant act of political retaliation and intimidation for Senator Padilla’s attempt to hold Noem and Trump’s Department of Homeland Security accountable for the horror they have…

Lumpkin, Georgia — Amid increasing reports of overcrowding and the denial of human rights at the Stewart Detention Center, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has confirmed the death by suicide of Jesus Molina-Veya on Saturday, June 7, 2025. Mr. Molina-Veya’s tragic loss marks the thirteenth death in custody and the third confirmed death by suicide at Stewart Detention Center since ICE began detaining immigrants there in 2006. Since the current president took office, Stewart Detention Center’s (SDC) average daily population has steadily risen from around 1,500 to over 1,800 people…

Washington, DC — 50,000 people are now in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) custody, according to the agency’s most recent reporting. This alarming spike - a 25 percent increase in just four months - comes amid Trump’s increasingly authoritarian escalation to carry out his multi-layered, mass detention and deportation agenda. Just this past week, targeted raids in Los Angeles received widespread condemnation and sparked nation-wide protests, while Trump and Stephen Miller initiated “ Operation At Large” to aggressively target people with a 3,000 person per day lock up quota. Trump’s…

Washington DC - In response to a new appalling report that immigrants who were sent to Djibouti by the Trump regime are now stranded in shipping containers and facing life-threatening conditions, Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director of Detention Watch Network issued the following statement: “We are in a crisis of conscience. The use of shipping containers to detain people is heinous and enraging - and coupled with the extreme heat, disease, and threats of rocket attacks in Djibouti, can be deadly. This is the latest move in Trump’s shocking expansion of third country deportations, when a…

Washington, DC — In response to the Trump administration’s executive order reinstating the Muslim ban, Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director at Detention Watch Network issued the following statement: “We denounce Trump’s white supremacist policy to reinstate and expand the racist Muslim and African ban. With new entry bans and restrictions on 19 countries, of which many are Muslim-majority, African, Asian, and Caribbean nations, the Trump administration is once again using national security as a pretext for villainizing Black and brown people. The ban is the latest in an onslaught of…

Washington, DC — With details emerging of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) latest campaign, “Operation At Large,” Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director of Detention Watch Network issued the following statement: “‘Operation At Large’ is a hyper-militarized police state and an inflection point in the rising authoritarianism of Trump’s regime. The operation doubles ICE’s lock-up quota to a shocking 3,000 people a day, deepens interagency police collaboration including with the FBI, and once approved, will supercharge the already massive police force with up to 21,000 National Guard…

Washington, DC — Today, the House of Representatives passed the Trump and MAGA backed megabill that is one step closer to substantially increasing Trump’s cruel mass detention and deportation agenda. The bill provides a shocking $150 billion for immigration enforcement – the targeting, detention, and deportation of people – including $45 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention to detain families and adults over the next four years at the expense of vital programs for all Americans. The bill now moves to the Senate. As the bill stands now, distribution of funds related…

Washington, DC — Yesterday, despite a federal court order, the Trump administration deported at least two people to war-torn South Sudan, in an alarming rise of third country deportations. Stacy Suh, Program Director of Detention Watch Network, issued the following statement: “The Trump regime is leveraging its diplomatic ties and strong arming leaders to expand third country deportations, when a person is deported to a country other than their country of origin, where they often have no connection. Third country expulsions are an expanded and alarming brand of deportation reached through quid…

Newark, New Jersey – Yesterday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed charges against Congresswoman LaMonica McIver in a blatant act of political retaliation for joining a congressional delegation intending to conduct an oversight inspection of Delaney Hall. This follows Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) shocking arrest of Newark Mayor Baraka last week for accompanying the congressional delegation. Delaney Hall is a private immigration detention center that Geo Group is now operating despite sustained community organizing against the facility, ongoing objections from New Jersey’s…

Newark, New Jersey – Today Mayor Baraka was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) outside of Delaney Hall, after accompanying a congressional delegation with the intention to conduct an oversight inspection. Delaney Hall is a private immigration detention center that Geo Group is now operating despite sustained community organizing against the facility, ongoing objections from New Jersey’s federal representatives, litigation, and proper city permits. The shocking arrest occurred as hundreds of community members attended in support of Mayor Baraka and the call to shut down…

Washington, DC — The Trump administration is reportedly planning to fly migrants to Libya to incarcerate them in the country’s detention facilities, which Amnesty International has called a “ hellscape,” with documented torture, abuse, and slavery. No details of the plan have been revealed. This is yet another shocking development in Trump’s multi-layered immigration detention expansion plan, which if fully realized will triple the immigration detention system. Trump’s plans to send immigrants to Libya and Saudi Arabia exemplifies the administration’s active pursuit of offshoring immigration…

Washington, D.C. - In response to Trump’s 100th day in office, Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network, shared the following reflections in Truthout: “Since taking office in January, Trump and his regime have increasingly weaponized the immigrant detention system for his white supremacist agenda. Suppression of dissent and intimidation have been cornerstones of the MAGA regime, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) forcefully abducting and incarcerating students and scholars for what is essentially a thought crime — expressing solidarity with Palestinians. The Trump…

UNITED STATES - This month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported three deaths, bringing the total to at least seven deaths in ICE custody since Trump assumed his second presidency. ICE reported Brayan Rayo-Garzon, from Colombia, died in custody on April 8. Rayo-Garzon was in ICE custody for two weeks. At the time of their death, ICE was detaining Rayo-Garzon at Phelps County jail, a jail in Missouri. ICE reported Nhon Ngoc Nguyen, 55, from Vietnam, died in custody on April 16. Nguyen was in ICE custody for almost two months. At the time of their death, ICE was detaining Nguyen in…

Nationwide — Today, 17 in-person demonstrations and two virtual actions occurred across the country as a part of Detention Watch Network’s “Communities Not Cages” National Day of Action. Co-hosted by the American Friends Service Committee and Immigrant Justice Network, advocates denounced the Trump administration’s cruel mass detention and deportation agenda in 13 states and the District of Columbia (see the list of actions). The National Day of Action kicked off on Wednesday evening with an Interfaith Vigil with approximately 100 people outside the notorious Dublin Women’s Prison in Dublin…

Washington, DC — In response to the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, increasingly aligning with the Trump administration and several disturbing developments over the past week, Silky Shah, executive director of Detention Watch Network, issued the following statement: “Today’s White House meeting between Trump and Bukele should alarm everyone. Trump is taking monumental yet calculated steps to expand the scope of who can be subjected to arrest, incarceration, and deportation, and normalize the abduction and removal of people to another country without due process. The Trump and Bukele…

Washington, DC — In response to Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director, Todd Lyons comments at the 2025 Border Security Expo, Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director of Detention Watch Network, issued the following comment: “We are in a crisis of conscience. The Trump administration’s escalation of dehumanizing language and policies directed towards immigrants should alarm everyone. People are not commodities to be shipped, discarded, and profited off of. Immigrants are vital contributors of our communities – neighbors, friends, coworkers, and family members who are loved and…

Washington, DC — This week Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued an urgent sole source justification and approval notice for contracts for multiple new detention facilities, including for the Midwest Regional Prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, North Lake Prison in Baldwin, Michigan, and California City Correctional in California City, California for ICE custody. All three facilities are owned by private prison companies and are currently shuttered, and now these horrific prisons will be repurposed for immigration detention. With a capacity to detain 1,800 people at North Lake and 2,000…

Washington, DC — In response to Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, visiting El Salvador’s notorious mega prison, CECOT, on Wednesday, Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director of Detention Watch Network issued the following statement: “Noem shamefully used people as props for the Trump regime’s latest media spectacle. With Trump’s invocation of a 227 year old law that Congress, courts, and presidents have apologized for, the Trump regime partnered with Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador, to indefinitely imprison people shipped from the US in his abusive mega prison with no due…