Los Angeles, CA – Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is seeking to expand immigration detention capacity in the West with the potential to impact Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. Posted in August, ICE’s West Coast Multi-State Request for Information (RFI), is seeking detention capacity of 850 to 950 additional detention beds within a two hour drive for each of the following ICE field office locations: Phoenix, El Paso, Seattle, and San Francisco. This West Coast RFI follows a Multi-State RFI posted in May 2024 to increase detention capacity in the Illinois, Harlingen, and Salt Lake City regions.
“The continued focus on punishing people who migrate for the simple act of moving for a new, better, or safer life is not only cruel, it is ineffective and fuels our country’s reliance on mass incarceration that disproportionately targets Black and brown people. ICE’s desire to massively increase the immigration detention system with two multi-state RFI’s is yet another stain on the Biden administration,” said Marcela Hernandez, Organizing and Membership Director at Detention Watch Network. “If realized, ICE’s expansion plan will also increase the targeting and racial profiling of people within their communities based on what they look like, the language they speak, and where they work while further exacerbating the detention system that is rife with abuse.”
There are approximately 37,395 people currently in ICE detention - more than double the amount of people that were detained when Biden took office. Notably, ICE is funded for 41,000 detention beds, meaning that if this expansion advances ICE will be detaining more people than it is currently funded for. ICE has a long record of overspending then seeking funding for transfer requests despite the agency's massively bloated $9.6 billion budget - funds that many say should be redirected towards housing for all, healthcare, and education to enrich communities, including immigrants, rather than target them.
ICE’s West Coast RFI for increased detention capacity is in deep contrast with local communities where immigrants are welcomed and valued. California, Oregon, and Washington have all passed state legislation to phase out immigration detention in their respective states after sustained local organizing, while communities in New Mexico are currently working to pass an anti-detention legislation in their state. With the West Coast RFI deadline passed on September 15, immigrant justice advocates are on alert – seeking more information on whether ICE moved forward with prospective bids to advance detention contracts or issue “sole-source” contracts within their communities while also making their demands clear: the Biden administration must stop ICE’s detention expansion ploy and reverse course by shutting down existing detention centers and releasing people immediately.
West Coast based immigrant justice organizations responded to ICE’s detention expansion threat with the following statements:
Sophia Genovese, Managing Attorney for the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center in New Mexico said: “People in immigrant detention centers are dying. People with medical vulnerabilities or who experience medical emergencies in detention are being ignored, resulting in permanent disabilities. People fleeing persecution and torture are prevented from accessing the asylum system while detained. ICE is simply unable and unwilling to ensure the safety and dignity of people in its custody. To expand immigrant detention across the Southwest is a death sentence for the thousands of people who cross the border seeking asylum each year.”
Laura St John, Legal Director, Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project in Arizona said: “Instead of looking for humane solutions that welcome immigrants and keeps our families and communities together, the administration's proposed expansion of detention space is yet another law-enforcement only plan that we at the Florence Project know will put real human lives in danger, trapping people in cruel and harmful conditions. Immigration prisons operate without any oversight or accountability despite decades of reporting showing the massive harm they cause both the people they detain and our communities. Expanding the web of immigration prisons is as unnecessary as it is inhumane; the only way forward is to end immigration detention and focus on service-based models.”
Grisel Ruiz, Senior Managing Attorney, Immigrant Legal Resource Center in California said: “As a state that has passed numerous laws to limit immigration detention and cooperation with ICE, California has made it clear that we reject the expansion of this harmful system. We have witnessed labor rights violations, medical neglect, and tragic deaths within immigration detention. Expanding this system only deepens these problems and puts our communities at risk. Every time immigration detention grows, ICE aggressively fills these centers, destabilizing communities and separating families. Instead of spending millions in tax dollars to expand detention, our government should invest in evidence-based approaches to supporting communities – we need better jobs, housing, and healthcare - not more detention.”
Vanessa Gutierrez, Deputy Director, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in Washington said: “The incarceration of immigrants seeking safety in the U.S. is an expensive, unnecessary, and inhumane approach to immigration enforcement. Instead of fostering integration, it perpetuates a cycle of fear and suffering within immigrant communities. The significant financial resources required to expand detention facilities would be better spent on programs that support humane immigration policies and address the root causes of migration. The severe mental health impacts and ongoing human rights violations in immigration prisons highlight the urgent need for a more compassionate approach.”
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Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a national coalition building power through collective advocacy, grassroots organizing, and strategic communications to abolish immigration detention in the United States.