LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- Amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, Freedom for Immigrants has launched a series of tools that track U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) response to the virus and conditions within its jails and prisons.
Defund Hate Coalition: Giving Trump More Money for ICE and CBP During the Coronavirus Global Health Crisis Is Exploitative
Over 250 National, State, and Local Advocacy Groups Call on Congress to Cut Funding to ICE and CBP
WASHINGTON — Over 250 national, state, and local advocacy groups and organizations urged Congress to dramatically reduce the budgets of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and to enact strong measures to prevent the Trump administration from diverting additional funds from unrelated government accounts for immigrant detention and border wall construction, in a letter sent today to congressional leaders.
Freedom for Immigrants Calls for Release of Detained Immigrants, Free Video Visitation & Phone Calls in Response to Shutdown of Social Visitation in Immigrant Prisons
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- On the morning of March 13, 2020, visitor volunteers reported to Freedom for Immigrants that they were blocked from social visitation at jails and prisons operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Later that day, ICE announced it has banned all social visitation in immigration detention nationwide.
Immigrant Advocacy Groups File Civil Rights Complaint Against Constitutional & Disability Rights Violations
Freedom for Immigrants (FFI), Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention, and Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC) have filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) on behalf of Mr. Anderson Avisai Gutierrez, a 27-year-old Guatemalan asylum seeker detained at the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana. Despite an attempt to end his own life and severe mental health disabilities, Mr.Gutierrez has been placed in solitary confinement for over eight months, where his mental health has further deteriorated.
Dignity Not Detention coalition condemns ouster of Adelanto planning commissioner who stood up to GEO
Adelanto, CA -- Immigrant rights advocates are denouncing the Adelanto City Council’s decision late last night to remove Planning Commission Vice-Chair JayShawn Johnson from his post. Last week, Johnson was the only member of the Commission to oppose a controversial proposal by multi-billion dollar prison corporation GEO to expand its immigration detention capacity in the city. The expansion has been widely slammed as an attempt to undercut California’s AB 32, which bans for-profit prisons and detention centers in the state.
Immigrant Advocates File Civil Rights Complaints Against ICE Alleging Medical Neglect, Overuse of Solitary Confinement on LA Hunger Strikers
On Tuesday, Freedom for Immigrants (FFI), Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention (Louisiana AID) filed two complaints with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) on behalf of South Asian men detained at the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana.
Freedom for Immigrants Launches “Detention In Your District” Project
LOS ANGELES, CA — Freedom for Immigrants is excited to launch a project titled “Detention in Your District,” a series of informational briefs highlighting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers in Congressional districts throughout the country. An essential component of ending immigration detention is understanding its scope and methods of expansion, especially as the Trump administration calls for an even bigger budget to enable its detention apparatus. We recognize that in order to be truly #DONEWithDetention, we must understand how it functions in our own backyards, and how local detention fits into a national system of mass incarceration of immigrants.