‘Caged in Cyber Prison’: New Report Sheds Light on Harms of Federal Government’s Shackling of Immigrants

In new study, hundreds of immigrants reveal how electronic ankle shackling is experienced as another form of detention

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The federal government’s use of electronic ankle “monitoring,” or shackling, subjects immigrants to many of the same harms as incarceration and is experienced as another form of detention, according to a new report from Freedom for Immigrants, Immigrant Defense Project and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

The newly released report, “Immigration Cyber Prisons: Ending the Use of Electronic Ankle Shackles,” leverages surveys of approximately 150 immigrants subject to shackling, data from immigration legal service providers related to nearly 1,000 cases, and qualitative interviews with immigrants subject to shackling. The result is the first empirical study to document the nature and scale of the harms, racial disparities and lack of efficacy of ICE’s massive electronic shackling program.

Freedom for Immigrants Wins Continued and Protected Use of its National Immigration Detention Hotline

OAKLAND, Calif. – Freedom for Immigrants (FFI), a national organization working to abolish the immigration detention system, settled its lawsuit against the federal government last week, winning a guarantee of continued use of its National Immigration Detention Hotline for at least a five-year period.

Under the settlement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agreed to provide uninterrupted access to FFI’s National Immigration Detention Hotline for people in the immigration detention system across more than 150 detention centers and jails across the country.

Freedom for Immigrants filed a lawsuit against ICE in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 2019 in response to the agency shutting down its hotline in a Florida detention facility after the hotline gained public attention for being featured on several episodes of “Orange is the New Black.”

NJ Legislature Passes Bill to End Immigration Detention

TRENTON, N.J. – Lawmakers in New Jersey today advanced legislation that would prohibit the state from entering into or renewing contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), sending the bill to Governor Phil Murphy’s desk.

Following passage of the legislation in the Assembly on Monday, the Senate approved its version of the bill this afternoon. The bill’s passage comes on the heels of several other states passing similar legislation to end private immigration detention, including Illinois, Washington, among others. This historic action came as a dozen immigrants at Bergen County Jail went on hunger strike in protest of their unjust detention.

Freedom for Immigrants supports this legislation and applauds lawmakers for taking steps to phase out immigrant detention, especially in the face of inaction at the federal level.

Freedom for Immigrants Congratulates Assemblymember Rob Bonta on his Appointment as Attorney General of California

March 24, 2021

Media Contact: Christina Fialho, CFialho@freedomforimmigrants.org, (310) 765-4044

National advocacy group Freedom for Immigrants, which has been working for the last decade to end immigration detention, issued this statement in response to the appointment of Assemblymember Rob Bonta as Attorney General of California:

“Assemblymember Bonta has been a champion for immigrant rights and in the fight against immigration detention, authoring groundbreaking legislation such as AB 32 that made California the first state in the nation to end the use of for-profit prisons in both the criminal and immigration context,” said Christina Fialho, a California attorney and Co-Founder/ Executive Director of Freedom for Immigrants. “The California Department of Justice has the authority to enforce state laws and, as Attorney General, Assemblymember Bonta will be able to provide much needed oversight and accountability over immigration detention centers in California and ensure proper implementation of these laws.”

“We applaud the Governor’s decision to appoint Assemblymember Rob Bonta as Attorney General of California,'' said Christina Mansfield, Co-Founder/ Executive Director of Freedom for Immigrants.  “We look forward to partnering with him in his new capacity as Attorney General to ensure that state laws limiting detention are enforced and upheld.”

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2021 Reverend John Guttermann Legacy Award given to El Refugio in Lumpkin, Georgia

Freedom for Immigrants is excited to announce the presentation of the 2021 Reverend John Guttermann Legacy Award to El Refugio in Lumpkin, Georgia for their outstanding contributions this year to the detention visitation and abolition movement.

Freedom for Immigrants established this award in honor of Reverend John Guttermann, who passed away in 2016 after a valiant fight with brain cancer. Rev. Guttermann was the founder of Conversations with Friends, a visitation group in Minnesota that was one of the first in the country, and a member of Freedom for Immigrants’ founding Leadership Council.

Sheriff’s Office Staff at Glades County Detention Center Pepper Spray, Assault, and Throw Men into Solitary Confinement in Retaliation for Complaint

Immigrant Action Alliance (IAA) and Freedom for Immigrants (FFI) stand with the family members of Kevin Louis Brown and Kemar Dwayne Williams in demanding the immediate release of both men from solitary confinement and an investigation into the use of excessive force. Mr. Brown and Mr. Williams experienced retaliation in the form of assault, pepper spray, and being thrown in solitary confinement after they participated in a civil rights complaint filed by IAA, FFI and seven other organizations detailing medical abuse at Glades County Detention Center.

Freedom for Immigrants supports California's Attorney General in federal lawsuit to protect the state ban on private prisons

Freedom for Immigrants supports California's Attorney General in federal lawsuit to protect the state ban on private prisons

Freedom for Immigrants joined forces once again with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and Human Rights Watch to file an amicus brief in the consolidated cases United States v. California and GEO v. California that have been appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The lawsuits were brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and GEO Group against California to stop the state from implementing AB 32, a new law that will phase out all private incarceration. In October, a federal judge had granted a preliminary injunction, upholding AB 32.