Washington, DC — In response to the furlough of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Detention Oversight as a result of the government shutdown, despite all other ICE operations and detention continuing, Setareh Ghandehari, advocacy director at Detention Watch Network issued the following statement:
“ICE purposefully obscures the truth — full stop. For the nearly 60,000 people in ICE custody, every measure of oversight is crucial because lives are in jeopardy.
There have been at least 20 deaths in ICE custody since Trump’s inauguration, a record number of deaths within a calendar year since Detention Watch Network began tracking deaths in ICE custody in 2006. Trump's cruel mass detention expansion is exacerbating the inhumane conditions that are inherent to ICE’s detention system and have been well documented for decades. Over the last nine months, there have been increasing reports of death, medical neglect, isolation, overcrowding, lack of food, and rampant transfers that cut people off from their loved ones and support networks.
ICE’s current oversight measures are profoundly insufficient, while a culture of secrecy pervades the agency, undermining accountability and allowing detention centers to operate without ICE having to answer for the inhumane treatment of people in detention. It is unconscionable that ICE would stop even the most minimal oversight mechanisms in this moment while still moving full steam ahead with Trump’s mass detention and deportation agenda. This decision once again illustrates how no one is safe in ICE custody.”
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Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a national coalition building power through collective advocacy, grassroots organizing, and strategic communications to abolish immigration detention in the United States.