Analysis

One year into the Biden administration, Detention Watch Network (DWN) is deeply disappointed by President Biden’s betrayal of his campaign promises to reduce reliance on immigration detention and bring fairness to the immigration system. Instead, he has continued to expand the deadly and inhumane Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention system. After years of unflagging and courageous organizing and advocacy by our communities, last year we celebrated the end of contracts at two ICE jails and an end to detaining families at the three family detention centers. However, the administration has failed to make bold or lasting change and has undermined its own progress by increasing the number of people detained during a pandemic; pursuing new and expanded detention contracts, including with private prison companies; investing in punitive networks of mass surveillance as “alternatives to detention;" encouraging the growth of police-ICE collaboration; and embracing Trump era policies that severely limit access to asylum at the border.