Pressroom

Washington, DC — Today Detention Watch Network, Shut Down Berks Coalition, JUNTOS, National Immigrant Justice Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, Aldea - the People’s Justice Center, Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center (PIRC), the Nationalities Service Center (NSC), and CASA delivered a letter to President Biden and Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on behalf of 220 immigrant and human rights groups demanding that the Biden administration immediately halt all efforts to expand immigration detention and terminate contracts. In the letter…

Washington, DC — In response to the release of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) enforcement priorities or prosecutorial discretion memo, Stacy Suh, Program Director of Detention Watch Network (DWN) offered the following statement: “We are deeply disappointed that the final enforcement priorities issued by the Biden administration continue to double down on categorical exclusions, targeting and demonizing those most vulnerable to detention and deportation. No matter where you are born, everyone deserves to be safe from detention and deportation, including people who have recently…

Washington, D.C. — The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) and Detention Watch Network (DWN) condemn the Biden administration’s move this week to expand its use of private prisons for immigrant detention and demand that the president reverse course quickly to abide by his campaign promises to end the use of for-profit immigrant detention centers. Local news outlets reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has entered into an agreement to detain as many as 1,875 immigrants at the GEO Group-operated Moshannon Valley Correctional Center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania. The…

Washington, DC — Today, Detention Watch Network, FIRM Action, Mijente, United We Dream and the We Are Home campaign coordinated a “ Communities Not Cages'' National Day of Action with 25 actions taking place across the country hosted by local partners, including a press conference and rally in Washington, DC ( watch the livestream here). Advocates called on the administration to take immediate action to shut down immigration detention centers, release all people from detention and stop deportations. These demands are increasingly urgent as the Biden administration carries out anti-Black racism…

Washington, DC — Today, 131 organizations published a statement for the Biden administration outlining the top immigration priorities that must be included in the country’s budget for Fiscal Year 2023. As the Biden administration begins crafting next year's budget, advocates are sending a strong message that it is long past time for the United States to redirect government funding away from draconian enforcement measures and invest in legal services and community-based programming that enhance our communities’ safety and well-being. Immigrants bring vibrancy and resilience to the United States…

Ocilla, Georgia — Today, Project South, Georgia Detention Watch, GLAHR, South Georgia Immigrant Support Network, and Detention Watch Network are celebrating the news that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will cut the contract for the Irwin County Detention Center (Irwin) in Ocilla, Georgia. Along with the end of the Bristol County contract, also announced today, this is the first time ICE has cut a contract for a detention center in recent years. The announcement signals a major win for people who’ve been detained at the facility and have bravely spoken out against the abuses they’ve…

Washington, DC — Today, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced it will cut the contracts of two detention facilities, Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia, and the Bristol County Detention Center in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Irwin is the first detention center in Detention Watch Network’s “First Ten to Communities Not Cages” campaign, launched in February, to be on the path to closure. The We Are Home campaign, including DWN and partner organizations, welcomed the DHS announcement as a positive - and long overdue - first step, and urged the agency to move…

North Dartmouth, MA — Today, the FANG Collective and Detention Watch Network are celebrating the news that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will cut the contract at the Bristol County Detention Center in Massachusetts. Along with the end of the Irwin Detention Center contract in Georgia, also announced today, this is the first time ICE has cut a contract for a detention center in recent years. The announcement signals a major win for people who’ve been detained at the facility and bravely spoken out against its abuses and for local organizations who have long fought to shut it down…

Washington, DC — Detention Watch Network is sounding the alarm that the number of people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) detention system has seen a sudden spike under the Biden administration. ICE’s COVID statistics webpage indicates that there are 20,430 people in ICE custody as of May 14, a nearly 33 percent increase since the start of Biden’s administration when there were 15,415 people in ICE custody. “The rising number of people in detention is unacceptable, full stop. The administration has claimed that action is forthcoming to roll back ICE’s abusive detention system…

Washington, DC — Communities Not Cages: A Just Transition from Immigration Detention Economies, a new report from Detention Watch Network, examines the role of immigration detention in local economies and outlines a vision for a just transition away from economies dependent on detention centers. The report compiles research on prisons, economic development, and trend lines in adult and youth incarceration around the country, and draws on interviews with more than 20 community organizers, advocates, lawyers, and experts on immigration detention and adult and juvenile prison systems. Immigration…

Ocilla, Georgia — Today Project South, Georgia Detention Watch, GLAHR, South Georgia Immigrant Support Network and Detention Watch Network are celebrating the news that no immigrant women are currently detained at the Irwin County Detention Center (Irwin) in Georgia as verified by groups on the ground. The announcement comes seven months after a shocking DHS OIG complaint was filed by Georgia-based groups that included horrific accounts from detained immigrants and whistleblower nurse, Dawn Wooten, describing multiple levels of abuse including neglecting to follow COVID-19 protocol and a…

Washington, DC — In response to the Biden administration’s first 100 days in office, Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network (DWN) offered the following statement: “The day before President Biden’s inauguration, DWN outlined key priorities for the administration to address within its first 100 days to begin to undo the criminalization, punitive nature, and ongoing suffering caused by the inhumane immigration detention system.” The following is a status check on these priorities: Repealing the hate-filled immigration policies of the Trump era. Status check: The Migrant…

Washington, DC — In response to the Biden administration’s appointment of Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez as the Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network (DWN) offered the following statement: “People uniting for the rights and dignity of immigrants will soon have a new face to direct demands to at ICE, which include: Releasing people from immigration detention halting deportations (including Title 42 expulsions) amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the interest of the health of those detained and the public. Closing detention…

Washington, DC — In response to the guilty verdict on all three charges of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network offered the following statement: “Today and always, we are in solidarity with Black people who have faced unjust oppression at the hands of police. This verdict does not change what we know to be true: a racist, unjust carceral system will never deliver true justice for communities of color in the U.S. The killing of George Floyd awakened the public to the disproportionate impact of the criminal punishment system on…

Washington, DC — Today American Friends Service Committee, CASA, Detention Watch Network, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Tsuru for Solidarity, and United We Dream delivered a letter to Xavier Becerra, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on behalf of 183 immigrant and human rights groups in firm opposition to the use of HHS influx facilities, especially on military bases, to detain unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the border. In the letter advocates underscore that large scale…

Seattle, WA — Today, after years of sustained local activism led by immigrant rights groups in Washington including, La Resistencia and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Governor Inslee signed HB1090 into law that will ban the operation of a private detention facility or prison by any person, business, state or local government entity. The bill will eventually close the state’s notorious Northwest Detention Center (NWDC), once the contract terminates, however advocates are demanding the facility be shut down immediately. “The Northwest Detention Center is emblematic of how ICE’s…

Washington, DC — As calls are intensifying for the Biden administration to fulfill his campaign promise and address Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) deadly detention system, local communities are advancing legislation to take steps toward shutting down facilities and releasing people from ICE custody. Four bills in Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico and Washington State would significantly reduce the use of immigration detention. The abuses of the detention system have been heavily documented by advocates, detained people, medical professionals and even the Department of Homeland…

Washington, DC — Advocates are voicing concern in response to the news that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is rebranding two out of its three family detention centers as “reception centers.” Whenever people are in ICE custody, lives are in jeopardy. The South Texas Family Residential Center (Dilley) and the Karnes County Family Residential Center (Karnes), both in Texas, share a well-documented history of negligence and abuse, including physical and sexual abuse and inadequate medical and mental health care. This is a pattern seen throughout ICE’s detention system. Advocates have…

Washington, DC — Today Detention Watch Network (DWN) announced the “First Ten to Communities Not Cages'' campaign, demanding the shut down of 10 immigration detention facilities in the first year of the Biden administration. “First Ten'' is the next phase of DWN’s national Communities Not Cages Campaign to shut down Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers and stop the expansion and construction of new facilities. For the campaign’s launch, advocates have compiled the “First Ten to Communities Not Cages” report, detailing the overwhelming evidence of abuse and neglect at…

Washington, DC — In response to the introduction of the U.S. Citizenship Act, Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network offered the following statement: “In order to achieve transformative change for immigrant communities we must center freedom, fairness and opportunity for all. The U.S Citizenship Act is a welcome first step in addressing the bigotry and cruelty entrenched in our immigration system. However, we need the Biden administration to undo the longstanding and pervasive criminalization of our immigrant family members, friends, coworkers and neighbors and take steps to…

Washington, DC — In response to the release of the “Interim Guidance on Civil Immigration Enforcement and Removal Priorities” by Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Tae D. Johnson, Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network offered the following statement: “Today, while Biden unveiled the U.S. Citizenship Act , which takes steps towards providing relief for millions of immigrants, ICE expanded enforcement guidelines that continue to criminalize immigrant communities. Let us be clear, relief cannot come at the expense of ICE enforcement tactics. ICE is an…

Washington, DC — In response to President Biden’s executive orders on immigration today, Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network offered the following statement: “While we are encouraged that the administration is prioritizing immigration as shown again by today’s executive orders, there is a critical priority that has yet to be addressed on immigration: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deadly and inhumane detention system. Dignity, freedom, and opportunity should be at the core of our immmigration system, but our existing system does not uphold these values, instead…

Lumpkin, Georgia — Immigrants’ rights organizations El Refugio, Georgia Detention Watch, Project South and Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR) in Georgia and Detention Watch Network are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Felix Montes de Oca, 57, while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Stewart Detention Center. Montes died due to COVID-19 related complications. His death marks the fourth time a person has died after contracting COVID-19 at the Georgia facility and the ninth death to occur in ICE custody due to COVID-19 complications. As of…

Washington, DC — Detention Watch Network and Freedom for Immigrants delivered a letter to the Biden-Harris administration on behalf of 215 immigrant and human rights groups demanding President Biden address the spread of COVID-19 inside immigration detention by releasing everyone within the administration’s first 100 days. Although the White House has released policy directives pausing most deportations and limiting enforcement, these memos fall short of ensuring the release of everyone from immigration detention and ending deportations—actions advocates view as critical to ensuring the health…

Washington, DC — In response to President Biden’s executive order on eliminating the use of private prisons, Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network offered the following statement: “We are encouraged that the Biden administration’s Department of Justice is prioritizing phasing out the use of private prisons — a decision that was made too late in the Obama administration and was immediately reversed by Trump. The engine of the US mass incarceration system runs on perverse financial incentives, and the private prison industry is one of the most notorious profiteers in the…