Our national campaign to #ReinstateVisitation won!

After fighting to restore social visitation inside immigration detention for the past two years, our campaign has won the full reinstatement of this vital form of connection. ICE initially revoked visitation at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With social visitation now restored, people in detention won’t be as isolated from their family and friends, and community groups can resume their critical in-person monitoring of human rights abuses happening on the inside.

To understand ICE’s new guidelines, read this explainer and watch the video below.

Join Us in the Fight to #ReinstateVisitation

Sunday, March 13, 2022, marked the two year anniversary of the suspension of visits to immigration detention nationwide. It’s now been two years since people in immigration detention and their loved ones have been able to visit each other, leaving people more isolated than ever. Learn about Serafín, Fidel and Francisco’s experiences in their own words, and sign up below to join the fight to #ReinstateVisitation!

Latest News

NPR: ICE lifted its ban on family visits, but relatives still struggle to see loved ones
The New York Times: ICE will reopen its detention centers for social visits.
La Opinión: Trae alegría a familias de inmigrantes reapertura de visitas en centros de detención de ICE
KNKX: Immigrant rights groups say ICE's no visitation policy taking toll on detainees’ mental health
TIME Magazine: People Detained in ICE Facilities Haven't Seen Their Loved Ones in Two Years
The Bakersfield Californian: Detained immigrants hope ICE lifts ban on visitations in place since start of pandemic
KPFA: Two years of covid lockdown; ICE detention visitation; and a focus on SFPD

WHY IS VISITATION IMPORTANT?

Visitation is a vital tool that allows people in detention and communities to build and maintain relationships and human connection. It’s the primary form of communication immigrants in detention have with their families, communities, and loved ones. Community visitation is also critical to monitoring human right abuses in immigration detention.

Yet people in immigration detention have been denied visits for more than two years, compounding the harm of the already isolating experience of detention.

Two years after cancelling visitation in response to the pandemic, this isolating policy remains in effect despite the fact that visitation resumed in other federal jails and prisons over a year ago in compliance with updated CDC public health guidelines.

Last year, FFI teamed up with dozens of community-based Visitation Groups to urge the Biden administration to #ReinstateVisitation, and we are now working with leaders in detention and communities across the country to escalate our demand.

Reinstating this vital means of connection and support for people inside and their families and communities outside will be crucial to reaching our long-term mission of building a world without immigration detention.

TIMELINE

ICE revokes access to visitation to immigration detention centers nationwide, calling the policy “temporary.”
The Bureau of Prisons—the largest federal prison agency in the U.S.—reinstates social visitation to jails across the U.S. ICE maintains its policy of denying visits.
Many people inside detention and their loved ones outside have now gone a full year without visits, compounding the already isolating and dehumanizing experience of detention.
Local Visitation Groups in the FFI National Visitation Network submit a letter to the Biden Administration, urging the reinstatement of visitation to immigration detention. The letter is never answered.
As the denial of visitation reaches the two year mark, leaders in detention and advocates renew their demand of the Biden administration to reinstate visitation as the government loosens other pandemic-related restrictions.
ICE announced the reinstatement of social visitation at detention facilities, following months of sustained pressure from the #ReinstateVisitation campaign. The campaign released this statement.
Immigrants rights advocates from 140 organizations delivered a letter to President Joe Biden demanding his administration fully reinstate social visitation at all ICE detention facilities.
Following additional pressure from the campaign, ICE releases updated visitation guidelines that allow for more thorough implementation of visitation.

The FFI National Visitation Network supports local Visitation Groups operating in 69 of the largest immigrant prisons across 26 states. Learn more here.

The campaign to reinstate visitation is supported by the following groups:
Advocates for Immigrants in Detention Northwest (Washington)
Casa de Paz (Colorado)
Casa Mariposa Detention Visitation Program (Arizona)
California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (California)
Cornell Anti-Detention Alliance (New York)
Desert Support for Asylum Seekers (California)
El Refugio (Georgia)
Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project (Arizona)
Freedom for Immigrants (Nationwide)
Immigrant Action Alliance (Florida)
Innovation Law Lab (Nationwide)
Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants (Illinois)
Iowans for Immigrant Freedom (Iowa)
Justice for Migrant Families (New York)
Kern Welcoming and Extending Solidarity to Immigrants (California)
Laredo Immigrant Alliance (Texas)
Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention (Louisiana)
Pangea Legal Services (California)
Rainbow Beginnings (California)
Transcend Arizona (Arizona)
Voces Unidas (Texas)
Volunteers for Immigrants in Detention - Albuquerque (New Mexico)