Freedom for Immigrants endorses the FIRST Act, Continues to Call for the Release of People in Detention

Freedom for Immigrants has endorsed the Federal Immigrant Release for Safety and Security Together Act (FIRST Act), co-sponsored by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ). The bill provides urgent and critical restrictions on immigration detention and enforcement during this unprecedented national public health emergency.

The groups undersigned in this letter, including Freedom for Immigrants, hope it will serve as a strong signal to Congressional leadership about the importance of limiting ICE’s interior enforcement activity, mandating dramatic reductions in ICE detention levels, and ensuring basic protections for those currently detained during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even without the immediate threat of COVID-19, current levels of ICE detention are unsustainable and unnecessary, to immense financial and moral cost. This current moment provides an opportunity to work together to both protect our communities and critically examine the inherently arbitrary and deadly nature of our system of mass immigration detention.

Read the full letter drafted with the support of Freedom for Immigrants’ policy director Sarah Gardiner, here.