Our latest press releases on important news and events relating to immigration detention in the United States
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – More than 340 immigrant rights, faith-based and civil- and labor-rights organizations delivered a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson Wednesday calling for the government to end its use of private prison companies to detain immigrants.
Today, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO) continued their fight against transparency and accountability, offering yet another reason why the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must immediately sever its ties with private prison companies.
Statement from Silky Shah, Co-Director of Detention Watch Network, on news that the United States Justice Department plans to end its use of private prisons:
“We are encouraged by today’s announcement that the Justice Department plans to end their toxic relationship with the private prison industry. For far too long, private prison companies have treated people’s lives as profit in the mass incarceration system, stripping people of their dignity and leaving a trail of abuse and mismanagement in their wake.
Washington, DC – “The U.S. Supreme Court’s inability to reach a decision today leaves the lives of millions hanging in the balance. As a result, immigrants will continue to be targeted by the unjust detention and deportation machine fueled by unconstitutional raids and police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) collaboration.
Washington, DC and New York, NY —Today, Detention Watch Network (DWN) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) released a new report, Banking on Detention 2016 Update, that reveals for the first time that mothers and their children are jailed under guaranteed minimum bed contracts for local jails.
WASHINGTON, DC — In response to the confirmed reports of a 30 day “surge” of raids to take place across the country, Danny Cendejas, Organizing Director at Detention Watch Network made the following statement:
WASHINGTON, DC — Yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG) announced an inspection program aimed at holding accountable two agencies who have long skirted their responsibility to meaningfully care for the well-being of immigrants in their custody: Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The new program promises unannounced inspections designed to monitor the Department of Homeland Security’s compliance with official government health, safety, and detention standards.
WASHINGTON, DC — A report, Fatal Neglect: How ICE Ignores Deaths in Detention, released today by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Detention Watch Network (DWN) and the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), examines egregious violations of medical standards by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that played a significant role in the deaths of eight people in detention centers across the country.
WASHINGTON, DC — On Monday, President Obama released the final budget of his presidency. In a disappointing proposal, this year’s budget continues to significantly invest in detention and monitoring of immigrant communities, earmarking $2.18 billion for detention.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — A new report, “Abuse in Adelanto: An Investigation into a California Town’s Immigration Jail” released today by Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC) and the Detention Watch Network (DWN) documents the extreme dangers detained immigrants face at the Adelanto Immigration Detention Facility — a for-profit facility where medical abuses run rampant and two high profile deaths have occurred. The report raises specific concerns about the treatment of people with disabilities incarcerated at the facility — with one man in a wheelchair denied sterile catheters, and one man with epilepsy denied a helmet to prevent head traumas during seizures.
