Pressroom

Washington, DC – Today, following a Senate Appropriations Hearing, activists and immigration attorneys, including Muslims for Just Futures, Pangea Legal Services, and Project ANAR confronted Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas over President Biden’s $105 billion supplemental funding request, including $8.7 billion in additional funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), doubling down on a policy of hyper militarization and incarceration. Watch the video of the confrontation with Mayorkas Advocates demanded answers from Mayorkas as he left the hearing, with the…

Washington, DC – Right now, at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, seven activists representing progressive causes across the United States, including immigrant rights groups, are being arrested for demanding an immediate ceasefire and that members of Congress vehemently reject the White House’s supplemental funding request. With red paint on their hands, activists chanted “from Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go!” In October, President Biden made a supplemental funding request of $105 billion, including $14 billion for the Israeli government, $2.5 billion for ICE, more…

Washington, DC — On Friday, the White House made a supplemental funding request of $105 billion, including a $13.6 billion in border supplemental, doubling down on a policy of hyper militarization and incarceration that makes our communities less safe. Most of the funding is designated for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and while it provides some crucial humanitarian aid, a majority of the remainder of the request is for military resources through the Department of Defense (DOD). In response, Detention Watch Network issued the following statement: “With back to back supplemental…

United States - Yesterday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that a 32-year-old man named Julio Cesar Chirino Peralta died in its custody. ICE had detained Mr. Peralta at the Port Isabel Detention Center in Los Fresnos, Texas, for less than a month before the day of his death on October 8. Mr. Peralta is the 12th person who has died in ICE custody during the Biden administration's first term. “We are heartbroken and express our heartfelt condolences to the family and loved ones of Julio Cesar Chirino Peralta. Mr. Peralta should not have been subjected to immigration…

WASHINGTON, D.C. - “ Caged Dreams,” a new documentary from Detention Watch Network that premiered today, details the stories of Johannes Favi, Beatriz Batres, and Felipe Diosdado, who were previously detained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody and suffered long-lasting trauma due to their incarceration. “The goal of the film is to paint a vivid picture of the emotional experience of immigration detention and the deep impacts on a person’s mental health and their loved ones,” said Johannes Favi, Freedom Fellow at Detention Watch Network and the Deputy Director of the Illinois…

Washington, DC – This week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released its latest data on the number of people in its custody, which reported 35,589 people are currently in ICE detention, an eight percent increase from 32,743 people that was reported on August 31. In response to the alarming growth of people in ICE detention, Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network issued the following statement: “The number of people in detention is at the highest level under the Biden administration at over 35K – more than double what it was when he first took office. Despite Biden…

Farmville, Virginia - On September 15th, while protesters demanded the closure of ICA-Farmville in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., local town officials signed a two-week contract extension behind closed doors to continue detaining people in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center until September 30th. Internal emails show that the Farmville town manager told the company Immigration Centers of America (ICA) on September 13th that they could not sign the extension without approval by the entire town council and that it was too late to add to the agenda…

Washington, DC — Today, advocates gathered in 15+ cities, including in Washington, DC as part of a national day of action demanding the Biden administration shut down all detention centers, release all people in detention, and end deportations. Partners in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia region used this opportunity to call on President Biden to shut down the ICA operated Farmville detention center, one of two remaining detention centers in Virginia, whose contract was set to expire on the same day. In DC and across the country, advocates utilized puppets of President Biden to demonstrate how…

New Jersey - Today, U.S. Federal Judge Robert Kirsch granted a preliminary injunction against New Jersey’s immigration detention ban to private prison corporation CoreCivic. CoreCivic and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)'s contract would have originally ceased operations at the Elizabeth Detention Center on August 31, 2023, this Thursday. But following today's ruling in a case brought by CoreCivic earlier this year, the contract is now expected to extend for an additional 12 months. The Elizabeth Detention Center, a converted warehouse prison notorious for its nearly 30 years of…

Farmville, Virginia- On September 15, 2023, a contract between Immigration Centers of America (ICA)-Farmville Detention Center and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will expire, and with four weeks left, advocates are turning up the pressure on President Biden, Secretary Mayorkas, and ICE Executive Associate Director Staci Barrera to stop the renewal of the contract and shut down the facility for good. ICA-Farmville is one of two immigration detention facilities in Virginia, and a recent report exposed that ICE continues to detain some immigrants at these facilities despite winning…

United States - Advocates are demanding the Biden Administration take action to shut down the Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey after the administration filed an amicus brief this week supporting private prison operator CoreCivic's attempt to keep the prison open. The Elizabeth Detention Center, a converted warehouse with nearly 30 years of documented abuse, is approaching its contract expiration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on August 31, 2023, and is barred from renewing its contract under a 2021 state law. However, by filing this amicus brief, the Biden…

*En español más abajo* Detention Watch Network offers this statement in solidarity with the Stop Cop City movement. As a coalition, we seek to abolish the inhumane and unnecessary immigration detention system. We understand that institutions of policing, military operations, jails, prisons, and detention facilities are interconnected, within the United States and globally. We will not tolerate attempts to expand any of these violent institutions and instead demand that we divest from these cruel systems and invest in the wellness of our communities. The city of Atlanta has leased 381 acres of…

New Jersey, USA - This week, the Biden administration is expected to file an amicus brief joining private prison company CoreCivic in its attempt to keep an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) prison open in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The Elizabeth Detention Center, a converted warehouse with nearly 30 years of documented abuse, is approaching its contract expiration with ICE on August 31, 2023, and is barred from renewing its contract under a New Jersey state law signed by Governor Murphy almost two years ago. This move follows a similar Biden administration strategy in California, where…

Washington, DC — On Friday, the Supreme Court rejected a Texas and Louisiana lawsuit seeking to block the Biden administration’s immigration enforcement priorities. In response to this news, Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director at Detention Watch Network, issued the following statement: “We are glad to see the Supreme Court block Texas, Louisiana, and the right-wing extremists who lead their state governments from advancing their anti-immigrant agendas. While we welcome this decision, we are clear that the heart of the issue lies in the U.S. immigration enforcement system itself. “The focus…

Washington, DC - El número de personas en detención de inmigrantes ha alcanzado aproximadamente 30.000, más del doble que cuando el Presidente Biden asumió el cargo en enero de 2021. En respuesta a este rápido aumento, Setareh Ghandehari, Directora de Incidencia de Detention Watch Network emite la siguiente declaración: “Hemos hecho sonar repetidamente la alarma de que la administración Biden debe poner fin a la cruel y racista política del Título 42 sin depender de la detención y vigilancia de inmigrantes. Sin embargo, en solamente un mes desde el fin del Título 42, el número de personas…

Washington, DC - A new report from Detention Watch Network and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center calls attention to a troubling pattern in the U.S. carceral system: jails and prisons nationwide are closing for one purpose, only to reopen and cage a different group of people. The report, The Carceral Carousel, dives into case examples from Louisiana, California, Arizona, New Jersey, Texas, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania, where criminal legal system facilities have been repurposed for immigration detention, immigration detention facilities repurposed for criminal legal system use, and other…

Washington, DC – Tonight, the Biden administration will finally end Title 42, a racist border closure and expulsion policy that targeted immigrants seeking safety and forced them into dangerous conditions under the guise of public health. Now, advocates are sounding the alarm that the administration must end Title 42 without relying on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immigration detention and surveillance. In response to this news, Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network issued the following statement: “The end of Title 42 is long-overdue. This cruel and racist…

Washington, DC – Today, 233 organizations sent an open statement to President Biden demanding the administration make good on its commitments to never detain families, to end privatized immigration detention, and ensure that people seeking safety can pursue their cases while living in communities in the United States rather than being subjected to inhumane detention and surveillance. The statement comes ahead of Thursday’s deadline to lift Title 42, an unlawful and cruel expulsion policy. The statement underscores the abuse within Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s immigration detention…

Washington, DC – This week, the Biden administration will finally end Title 42, a racist border closure and expulsion policy that targeted immigrants seeking safety and forced them into dangerous conditions under the guise of public health. As the harmful policy ends, advocates are sounding the alarm that the administration must end Title 42 without relying on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immigration detention and surveillance. “Title 42 should never have been implemented in the first place, and the Biden administration’s continuation of the policy for over two years has been…

Washington, DC – In response to the Biden administration’s new measures announced today to deter migration, Setareh Ghandehari, Detention Watch Network’s advocacy director offered the following statement: “Today’s announcement builds on the U.S. government’s failed, decades-long deterrence strategy that causes immeasurable harm for people seeking safety and opportunity in the United States. While the announcement included plans to establish migration pathways such as new family reunification parole processes and increase refugee admissions, overall these plans are designed to attack access to…

Georgia, USA — Less than a month after a man died at an immigration detention facility in California, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced yesterday that Salvador Vargas, a 61-year-old man of Mexican descent, died in their custody on April 4th. Immediately before Mr. Vargas's hospitalization, ICE was detaining him at the Stewart Detention Center (Stewart) in Lumpkin, Georgia, one of the largest and deadliest ICE detention centers in the country. Stewart, a remote prison with a bed capacity of 2,016, has been the site of at least 10 other ICE custody deaths. Mr. Vargas’s death is…

Washington, DC – Notorious private prison corporation, CoreCivic, is hiring for a “Resident Supervisor” with experience in the “child welfare field working with children or adolescents” for the “South Texas Family Residential Center” in Dilley, Texas as indicated by a job posting on their website. This is the latest development in the administration’s consideration to reinstate family detention, signaling that the White House is taking concrete steps to restart the widely criticized policy. The South Texas Family Residential Center, also referred to as Dilley, was one of four family detention…

Washington, DC – Today, 383 organizations sent a letter to President Biden demanding an official policy terminating family detention amid reports the administration is considering reviving the widely condemned practice. The letter also details grave concern that the Department of Homeland Security will attempt to push families through the new expedited removal process laid out in the recently proposed asylum ban rule, which when coupled with family detention could essential create “deportation factories” as families scramble to defend their asylum eligibility while trying to protect their…

Nationwide — When the COVID-19 pandemic began, immigrant rights advocates raised the alarm over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) putting the lives of people in detention at even more risk. As the federal government declares this public health emergency over, calls are intensifying for the Biden administration to address an array of cruel immigration detention practices and policies. Local communities across the country are proposing state legislation that would end ICE facility contracts as a step toward shutting down detention centers entirely. Decades of abuse in the immigration…

San Diego, California —The Free Them All San Diego Coalition, the Mami Chelo Foundation, and Detention Watch Network are demanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immediately investigate and release findings related to the death of Cristian Dumitrascu, a 50-year-old man from Romania. Mr. Dumitrascu died on March 5 while detained at the San Diego ICE Otay Mesa Detention Center. Immigrant justice advocates are demanding the facility shut down and that ICE release everyone detained in the wake of this tragedy. “I can’t express in words the pain that we are in right now. It's a tough…