FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: media@freedomforimmigrants.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden failed to mention his administration’s growing reliance on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention and doubled down on failed migration deterrence policies in his State of the Union address tonight.
The following statement is from Andrea Carcamo, policy director of Freedom for Immigrants:
"Two years into Biden’s term, immigrant communities continue to face the cruelty of an immigration system propelled by hate and xenophobia. Biden may have inherited this mess, but he now owns it.
“Although Joe Biden promised to chart a new and humane direction on immigration, time after time, he’s doubled down on—and in many cases, deepened—the cruelty of the U.S. immigration system.
“While you wouldn’t know it from listening to his speech, the number of people detained in abusive immigration detention centers is on the rise under President Biden. There are almost 12,000 more people detained by ICE today than when Biden first took office, a staggering 82 percent increase. Immigration detention, along with ICE’s expanding web of surveillance and digital forms of confinement, is rooted in racism and xenophobia. It’s no coincidence that Black, brown and indigenous immigrants continue to be disproportionately harmed and abused in the sprawling detention system.
“At the same time, the Biden administration is doubling down on other failed—and deadly—deterrence policies at the southern border. We call on Biden to change course and move to welcome migrants by closing detention centers, releasing people back to their loved ones, and restoring asylum access to asylum seekers and other immigrants who have been part of our communities for decades. Only then will Biden live up to his promise of pursuing racial equity and dignity and fairness for all.”
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Freedom for Immigrants (FFI) is devoted to abolishing immigration detention, while ending the isolation of people currently suffering in this profit-driven system. FFI monitors the human rights abuses faced by immigrants detained by ICE through a national hotline and network of volunteer detention visitors, while promoting community-based services that welcome immigrants into the social fabric of the United States.