Pressroom

Our latest press releases on important news and events relating to immigration detention in the United States

For media inquiries contact: media@detentionwatchnetwork.org

After years of local advocacy, ICE announces its cutting the Bristol County Detention Center’s contract — a huge win for the immigrant rights community

May 20, 2021

North Dartmouth, MA — Today, the FANG Collective and Detention Watch Network are celebrating the news that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will cut the contract at the Bristol County Detention Center in Massachusetts. Along with the end of the Irwin Detention Center contract in Georgia, also announced today, this is the first time ICE has cut a contract for a detention center in recent years.

We Are Home, Detention Watch Network, and partners welcome ICE detention announcement, call for additional actions to cut detention

May 20, 2021

Washington, DC  — Today, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced it will cut the contracts of two detention facilities, Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia, and the Bristol County Detention Center in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Irwin is the first detention center in Detention Watch Network’s “First Ten to Communities Not Cages” campaign, launched in February, to be on the path to closure.

Advocates sound the alarm: The number of people in ICE detention spikes under the Biden Administration to over 20k

May 18, 2021

Washington, DC — Detention Watch Network is sounding the alarm that the number of people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) detention system has seen a sudden spike under the Biden administration. ICE’s COVID statistics webpage indicates that there are 20,430 people in ICE custody as of May 14, a nearly 33 percent increase since the start of Biden’s administration when there were 15,415 people in ICE custody. 

With the appointment of Gonzalez to ICE Director, Detention Watch Network is eager to see immediate shifts in the agency’s culture and operations

April 27, 2021

Washington, DC — In response to the Biden administration’s appointment of Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez as the Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network (DWN) offered the following statement:

“People uniting for the rights and dignity of immigrants will soon have a new face to direct demands to at ICE, which include:

The killing of George Floyd awakened the public to the disproportionate impact of the criminal punishment system on Black and brown communities

April 20, 2021

Washington, DC  — In response to the guilty verdict on all three charges of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network offered the following statement:

“Today and always, we are in solidarity with Black people who have faced unjust oppression at the hands of police. This verdict does not change what we know to be true: a racist, unjust carceral system will never deliver true justice for communities of color in the U.S.

183 Immigrant and Human Rights Groups call on the Biden administration to end the practice of holding unaccompanied children in HHS influx facilities 

April 15, 2021

Washington, DC — Today American Friends Service Committee, CASA, Detention Watch Network, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Tsuru for Solidarity, and United We Dream delivered a letter to Xavier Becerra, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on behalf of 183 immigrant and human rights groups in firm opposition to the use of HHS influx facil

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