Denver, CO — Last week it was reported that the Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado will detain people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, revealing one of the first locations of Trump’s plan to more than double ICE’s immigration detention capacity. As previously reported, the administration is seeking to open four new 10,000 bed detention facilities, as well as 14 smaller sites with space for 700 to 1,000 people, now coupled with the directive to use Guantanamo Bay to detain 30,000 people. The use of military bases for immigration detention deepens a troubling trend of immigration enforcement working within the Department of Defense.
Buckley Space Force Base will be used as a large-scale temporary detention camp that will facilitate deportation for some and detention for others. In immigration detention, people are isolated from their loved ones, cut off from support networks, and imprisoned in unsafe conditions while facing a potential life-altering deportation. Temporary large-scale detention facilities exacerbate well-documented abuse inherent to the detention system, including unsanitary conditions and medical neglect, given the sheer number of people in ICE custody paired with a complete lack of oversight and transparency. The Buckley Space Force Base also holds the distinction as one of the top 50 contaminated Department of Defense sites.
The announcement of Buckley Space Force Base came in tandem with the report of numerous ICE raids around the Denver metro area that targeted people at their workplaces, homes, and around the community. The administration has set a clear intention of terrorizing communities and disrupting daily life, as demonstrated by Trump’s decision to rescind ICE’s longstanding Sensitive Locations Policy that barred some, but not all, enforcement actions in places such as schools, hospitals, and places of worship. Additionally, Trump’s lock-up quota has directed ICE to target and arrest 1,200 to 1,500 people a day.
With the threat of a massive expansion of the detention system in Colorado and across the country, Colorado based immigrant justice advocates and advocates across the country are ringing the alarm and demanding elected leaders reject Trump’s plan. They issued the below statements:
Jordan Garcia, Program Director, American Friends Service Committee, Colorado said:
“These last few days, as we respond to the fear and frustration of our immigrant and citizen communities, working to provide accurate information and compassionate direction, I am enraged. ICE was welcomed to Colorado with comments by Governor Polis, only to find that, just as we suspected, they descend on our communities, tearing families apart and trampling on our rights. Congressman Jason Crow has often demanded accountability and oversight for our existing detention center, yet even under the watchful eye of his competent staff, we have consistently received reports of abuse from guards, frozen, spoiled or unsafe food and dismal medical care. We see bold and precise actions of everyday people to protect their neighbors and loved ones. It’s time for Congress to step up and intervene. They only have to look to many of our state legislators, who have stood up to join us in our fight for justice.”
Stacy Suh, Program Director at Detention Watch Network, said:
“Communities will continue to organize against detention expansion every step of the way. If realized, Trump’s immigration detention expansion will tear apart families, put people’s lives in danger, and cost taxpayers greatly. It 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 expanding the detention system that is rife with abuse. This moment demands a national outcry — our elected officials cannot afford to remain silent on Trump’s excessive cruelty. Rather, they must vocally oppose Trump’s mass detention and deportation agenda by denying Trump the resources he needs to carry out his agenda, including by cutting funds to ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).”
Laura Lunn, Director of Advocacy and Litigation at the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN), said:
“The Trump administration is directing resources to terrorize our community by promising to separate parents from their children and target people at home and at work. At the same time, he's stripping people of access to services that provide basic information to ensure due process is protected. Detaining people on military bases is dangerous and inhumane. Buckley poses a great risk for severely restricted access to legal counsel and public oversight. "
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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.