Pressroom

Washington, DC – In response to the House passing a reconciliation bill that gives the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) an additional $70 billion, Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director at Detention Watch Network issued the following statement: “The billions in additional funding that Congress just handed to DHS to expand the administration’s detention and deportation agenda is unconscionable. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is already the largest enforcement agency in the country, operating with never-before-seen funding to maintain and expand the largest immigration detention…

Washington, DC — Today the House ended the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown by passing the Senate approved FY 2026 DHS funding bill that zeroes out funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other parts of the mass detention and deportation machine. At the same time, both chambers of Congress recently passed a budget resolution, paving the way to fund ICE and Customs and Border Protection through yet another reconciliation process in the coming weeks. Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director of Detention Watch Network, issued the following statement: “Congress’s…

Washington, DC — In response to another tragic death in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody on March 16, Carly Pérez Fernández, Communications Director of Detention Watch Network, issued the following statement: “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Royer Perez-Jimenez, 19, reported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as a ’presumed’ death by suicide. We are equally enraged that a shocking 13 people have died in ICE custody this calendar year — four people in March alone, and 44 deaths total under this administration. ICE kills people and threatens community safety…

Washington, DC — The surge of disapproval over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Trump administration’s cruel mass detention agenda has resulted in a fight over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with Democrats rejecting the original proposal which included billions of dollars for ICE and Border Patrol. With the deadline for passing the 2026 Homeland Security Appropriations bill set to expire tonight, Congress will be faced with a decision about whether to continue funding ICE and Border Patrol, the agencies that are carrying out the Trump administration’s…

Washington, DC — Today in a massive show of support, 1,025 organizations, including immigrant justice, human rights, civil rights, faith, and labor organizations sent a letter to members of Congress to express horror, outrage and deep grief about the recent shooting deaths by federal agents in Minneapolis. “We demand an immediate halt in all funding for these deadly operations until the violence, abuses, and deaths in American communities and in immigration detention centers stop,” states the letter. “Congress must refuse to provide one dollar to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or…

Congress’s fiscal year 2026 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill is poised to further increase Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) already bloated budget, allowing ICE to continue expanding its detention capacity at a time when people are dying in the system at a record pace. The current negotiated funding bill would provide billions of new tax dollars to private contractors already profiting from the windfall of funds DHS received last summer, when Congress passed President Trump’s reconciliation bill defunding Americans’ access to healthcare and food security, affordable housing…

One-hundred and seventy five immigrant and civil rights organizations sent a letter today to congressional appropriators urging them to reject the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) latest request for new funding to further expand the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention system. “Over the past two years DHS has persistently overspent its detention budget, confident that Congress will permit regular infusions of funds through reprogramming and transfers,” the letter, signed by the National Immigrant Justice Center, Detention Watch Network and other local, regional, and…