Washington, DC — Today, Detention Watch Network (DWN) is relaunching the Communities Not Cages campaign and renewing its call to shut down Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers and stop the expansion and construction of new facilities. With over a 100 DWN members, the support of 100 organizational campaign cosponsors across the country, and members of Congress, Communities Not Cages is amplifying local community organizing to end ICE detention while illuminating the dangers of the Trump administration’s multi-layered detention expansion plan. Campaign organizers underscore that the gravity of this moment cannot be understated, particularly after the passage of the MAGA megabill that will supercharge Trump’s cruel mass detention and deportation agenda, making ICE the largest law enforcement agency in the country. Shockingly, ICE’s budget now exceeds many militaries around the world.
The bill provides an appalling $150 billion for the targeting, detention, and deportation of people including $45 billion for ICE detention to detain families and adults over the next four years. This bill is 13 times ICE’s current fiscal budget which is already operating at a historic high, and will be in addition to ICE’s annual budget that Congress greenlights each year.
“The MAGA funding bill skyrockets ICE’s budget to never before seen levels. It is truly unprecedented and will go down in history as a seismic betrayal in how taxpayer dollars are spent to fuel cruel and inhumane immigration enforcement at the expense of the needs of communities across the country, including Medicaid, school meals, and housing,” said Marcela Hernandez, Capacity Building Director with Detention Watch Network. “In this critical moment, it’s important for us to relaunch the Communities Not Cages campaign to draw attention to the people across the country who are uniting to protect their family members, neighbors, and friends. In the face of the administration’s unrelenting expansion of immigration detention, communities across the country are demanding to shut down detention centers and halt detention expansion.”
In June 2025, ICE was detaining more than 59,000 people—a 48 percent surge since January. This marks the highest ICE detention population in U.S. history. The Trump administration is aggressively pursuing a multi-layered expansion plan to detain 100,000 people at any given time. Trump’s plan has proliferated ICE operations into other government agencies, including the Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Defense, using military bases as deportation hubs and growing ICE partnerships with local sheriffs and county jails. The administration has expanded surveillance, brought back family detention, began incarcerating people in an abusive mega-prison in El Salvador, and increased neighborhood and workplace raids that destabilize communities and disappear people, including activists who oppose Trump’s agenda, into ICE’s network, often sowing fear and confusion with facility transfers.
With the Communities Not Cages relaunch, the campaign is spotlighting 11 facilities over the coming weeks that are representative of Trump’s detention expansion and the inhumane conditions that people face system-wide, including:
- Delaney Hall Detention Center, New Jersey: Dubbed by Trump as the first new facility under this administration, Delaney Hall is operated by GEO Group despite sustained community organizing against the facility, ongoing objections from New Jersey’s federal representatives, litigation, and proper city permits. Status: Operational.
- FCI Dublin Prison, California: A former federal prison that closed last year due to powerful survivor-led organizing following years of horrific staff sexual abuse, retaliation, and medical neglect. The use of BOP prisons for ICE custody is widening across the country. Status: Fight to halt the opening.
- CA City Correctional Center, California: A former federal prison owned by CoreCivic that could become one of the largest facilities for ICE detention if opened. Status: Fight to halt the opening.
- Leavenworth Detention Center, Kansas: A former federal prison operated by CoreCivic that closed in 2022. Status: Fight to halt the opening.
- Guantanamo Detention Center, Cuba: Offshore military base with an extensive history of abuse and torture, costing the federal government an estimated $100,000 per person daily. Status: Operational.
- Central Louisiana ICE Detention Center, Jena, Louisiana: A rural and sprawling facility operated by GEO Group that recently detained pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khlalil. Status: Operational.
- South Louisiana ICE Detention Center, Basile, Louisiana: An all female facility operated by GEO Group within Louisiana’s notorious detention alley. Status: Operational.
- Torrance Detention Center, New Mexico: Operated by CoreCivic, Torrance’s closure was strongly recommended by the DHS Office of Inspector General in 2022 due to abuse and mismanagement. Status: Operational.
- North Lake Detention Center, Michigan: Operated by GEO Group, North Lake reopened in June as an ICE detention center after closing in 2022 when it was used as a segregated immigrant-only prison. Status: Operational.
- Krome Detention Center, Florida: Considered one of the oldest and most notorious ICE detention centers where frequent abuse occurs including overcrowding. Status: Operational.
- Everglades Concentration Camp, Florida: Surrounded by one of the most fragile ecosystems in the country, members of Congress toured the facility last week and decried the inhumane conditions where people are caged in a remote setting with a complete lack of infrastructure. Status: Operational.
“This moment demands action. The Communities Not Cages campaign works with local community organizations to stop detention expansion, shrink the detention system, and uplift community organizing to build a better future for everyone,” added Hernandez. “Immigration detention as a whole is unnecessary, rife with systemic abuses and completely arbitrary – full stop. What we’re seeing now in detention centers, which are inherently inhumane, is a heightened degree of cruelty as Trump will stop at nothing to dehumanize and vilify immigrants. No one should suffer in these conditions. Immigrants are our family members, neighbors, friends, and coworkers – worthy of dignity and respect regardless of where they came from or how they arrived in the U.S. We demand Communities not Cages.”
The Communities Not Cages campaign originally launched in 2018 under the first Trump administration. In 2021 the campaign escalated to “First Ten to Communities Not Cages” which targeted the Biden administration and resulted in the end of detention at three facilities in Alabama, Georgia, and Pennsylvania and eliminated the practice of detaining families with young children at two detention centers in Texas. Today’s relaunch kicks off revamped campaign materials, including a new logo, detention expansion map, artwork, and campaign spotlights on the 11 facilities that will be shared on Detention Watch Network’s social media channels in the coming weeks.
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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.