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 officials throw El Paso hunger strikers into solitary confinement after altercation over force-feeding, says attorney

February 8, 2019

El Paso, Texas — The nine Sikh asylum seekers on hunger strike in the El Paso Service Processing Center (EPSPC) have been thrown into solitary confinement after refusing to be force-fed standing up, reports their attorney after speaking with a family member. Immigrant rights advocates, civil rights organizations, and local community groups are deeply alarmed by this latest development involving the nine Sikh asylum seekers who have been on hunger strike for more than 40 days to protest their incarceration at the EPSPC.

It’s not just about the wall

February 1, 2019

Washington, DC — This week, some Democratic members of the conference committee opened the door to further enable Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda with a proposal to increase Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) budget by $396 million and Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) budget by $278 million. The proposal comes as Congress is negotiating a way to fund the government after February 15 or face another Trump imposed shutdown.

Disappointed by the initial proposal, the #DefundHate Coalition released the following statement:

Once Congress votes to end Trump’s unnecessary shutdown, they must do 3 things

January 25, 2019

Washington, DC — Today, Trump ended his self-imposed government shutdown that caused immense harm to hundreds of thousands of federal workers, contractors, and people reliant on critical government programs. The move by Trump occured after mass mobilizations across the country called for the end of his game to hold the government hostage in an effort to bankroll his harmful, ineffective border wall and anti-immigrant agenda.   

Members of the Defund Hate Coalition issued the following statement:

Immigrant lives are not bargaining chips

January 19, 2019

Washington, DC — In response to Trump’s proposal to exchange massive increases in border wall funding for temporary protections for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients, Mary Small, Policy Director of Detention Watch Network:

As Trump Takes Hate Speech to the Southern Border, Defund Hate Coalition Calls on Congress to Stand With Communities and Deny Funding for Immigration Detention and Enforcement System

January 10, 2019

With thousands of federal workers on the cusp of a missed paycheck, President Trump staged a televised meeting today in McAllen, Texas, where he and members of his administration repeated the same hateful anti-immigrant rhetoric he has used since his candidacy to attempt to justify a federal government shutdown already taking a toll on American families and communities.

Defund Hate Coalition Reacts to President Trump's Shutdown Remarks

January 8, 2019

Washington, DC — More than two weeks into Trump’s shutdown of the federal government, the president continues to hold Americans hostage to his anti-immigrant agenda. Congress must continue to reject the president’s irrational demands to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to pay for his border wall and the immigration enforcement and detention system that has separated thousands of families, put children in cages, and caused the deaths of migrants who came to the United States seeking safety and freedom.

#DefundHate Coalition Responds to #TrumpShutdown, Calls on Republicans and Democrats to Reject Trump’s Demands

December 22, 2018

Washington, DC — Last night, Trump and Republicans shut down the government over Trump’s hateful border wall.

While Trump is holding the government hostage in order to continue his attacks on immigrant communities, we are calling on Democrats and Republicans in Congress to reject Trump’s demands and pass a clean continuing resolution (CR) that does not include funding for a border wall or an increase in funding for the deportation agencies of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that operate with near impunity.

ICE Releases Sham Immigrant Death Reports as it Dodges Accountability and Flouts Congressional Requirements

December 19, 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 19, 2018) -- Under intense pressure from civil society and Congress in light of an autopsy report which suggested Roxsana Hernández Rodriguez, a transgender woman, was beaten before she died in custody in May, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has published a new web page with notifications of six deaths that occurred in fiscal year 2018.

Leading Advocates Call for Congress to Reject Border Wall Funding, Increased DHS Budget

December 11, 2018

Washington, DC — As Democratic congressional leadership heads to the White House to negotiate Department of Homeland Security funding with President Trump, leading civil rights, faith, immigrant rights, and advocacy organizations called for a rejection of Trump’s border wall and demand cuts in funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection in the coming fiscal year.

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