No Matter the Election Outcome, Congress Must Defund ICE and CBP and Prioritize the Wellbeing of Our Communities
October 29, 2020
Washington, DC— As Americans await the election results, the Defund Hate campaign issued the following statement:
Pressroom
Our latest press releases on important news and events relating to immigration detention in the United States
For media inquiries contact: media@detentionwatchnetwork.org
ICE is attempting to lock-in detention contracts ahead of the election
October 29, 2020
Washington, DC — Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has doubled-down on its efforts to lock-in contracts for the immigration detention system for years to come by posting four new Requests for Information (RFI) proposals for immigration jails. The RFI’s were posted for the following Areas of Responsibility (AORs) or regions:
Community Organizations Free Hundreds of Immigrants from ICE Detention
October 21, 2020
Beginning Wednesday, October 21st, in an action dubbed “Fall Freedom Day,” immigrant rights organizations in coordination with the National Bail Fund Network and Detention Watch Network, will begin the process of posting $3 million in immigration bonds to free hundreds of individuals held in immigration detention across the country. The collective action builds off of years of organizing by groups across the country and a similar action in 2019 that freed over 200 people.
ICE Ends Fiscal Year 2020 with its Highest Death Toll in 15 Years
September 30, 2020
Washington, DC — On the last day of Fiscal Year 2020, Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network, issued the following statement in response to the 21 deaths that have occured in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody throughout the year:
“The tragic death toll for FY 2020 is the highest since FY 2005. People are losing their loved ones to an immigration detention system that simply does not need to exist.
Reported death in detention this week, whistleblower revelations last week — No one is safe in ICE custody
September 21, 2020
Lumpkin, Georgia — Today the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the death of Cipriano Chavez-Alvarez, 61, who died from COVID-19 early Monday morning after being detained at the Stewart Detention Center (Stewart) in Georgia. Chavez-Alvarez is the third person to die from COVID-19 this year at the facility where there have been over 330 total confirmed COVID-19 cases.
Rights groups mourn death of Jose Freddy Guillen Vega from COVID-19
August 12, 2020
Lumpkin, Georgia – El Refugio, Georgia Detention Watch, Project South, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR), and Detention Watch Network extend their deepest sympathies to the family of Jose Freddy Guillen Vega, who died Aug. 10 of complications from COVID-19 while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.
Two notorious Texas detention centers receive new 10-year ICE contracts with private prison corporations
August 10, 2020
Taylor, TX — Last week, in a move seemingly designed to ensure mass detention continues for another decade, ICE awarded 10-year contracts to private prison corporations to operate two notorious Texas detention centers — CorecCivic’s T. Don Hutto and GEO Group’s South Texas Detention Complex.
Death Toll in ICE Custody Climbs to 17 with 2 deaths reported this week as COVID-19 Ravages Detention Centers Nationwide
August 7, 2020
Washington, DC — This week two deaths were reported in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) custody, Kuan Hui Lee, a 51-year-old man who died after being detained at the Krome Detention Center in Miami, and a unidentified 72-year-old man who tested positive for COVID-19 while detained at the Immigration Centers of America (ICA)-operated Farmville Detention Center in Virginia.
After months of ignoring the outbreak of Covid-19 in ICE detention, Acting Director Matthew T. Albence Stepping Down
July 31, 2020
Washington, DC — In response to the announcement that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Matthew T. Albence is retiring, Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network made the following statement:
Two deaths in ICE detention in four days — ICE is an integral part of the deadly police infrastructure
July 16, 2020
Washington, DC — This week Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported two deaths of people in its custody, Onoval Pérez-Montufa, 51, who died Sunday after contracting the coronavirus and Luis Sánchez-Pérez, 46, who died yesterday on July 15.
Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network offered the following statement in response: