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

DWN Reacts to Skyrocketing Detention Numbers as ICE Director Sarah Saldaña Promotes Profiteering

October 21, 2016

“With recent reports of detention numbers at a record breaking high of over 40,000 people behind bars -- Detention Watch Network calls on Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Jeh Johnson, to immediately intervene in operations at ICE. It’s clear that these inconceivable numbers are the result of ICE Director Sarah Saldaña’s mismanagement of an agency that has proven time and again that it is incapable of caring for people in its custody.

Federal Government Takes a Much Needed Step Against Mass Incarceration

August 18, 2016

Statement from Silky Shah, Co-Director of Detention Watch Network, on news that the United States Justice Department plans to end its use of private prisons:

“We are encouraged by today’s announcement that the Justice Department plans to end their toxic relationship with the private prison industry. For far too long, private prison companies have treated people’s lives as profit in the mass incarceration system, stripping people of their dignity and leaving a trail of abuse and mismanagement in their wake.

Announcement of increased oversight is encouraging, does not do enough to end rampant abuse at immigration detention centers

March 16, 2016

WASHINGTON, DC — Yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG) announced an inspection program aimed at holding accountable two agencies who have long skirted their responsibility to meaningfully care for the well-being of immigrants in their custody: Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The new program promises unannounced inspections designed to monitor the Department of Homeland Security’s compliance with official government health, safety, and detention standards.

Report Shows Poor Medical Care Led to Deaths at U.S. Detention Center

February 18, 2016

WASHINGTON, DC — A report, Fatal Neglect: How ICE Ignores Deaths in Detention, released today by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Detention Watch Network (DWN) and the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), examines egregious violations of medical standards by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that played a significant role in the deaths of eight people in detention centers across the country.

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