Our latest press releases on important news and events relating to immigration detention in the United States
For media inquiries contact: media@detentionwatchnetwork.org
Washington, DC – Last week, Frankline Okpu, 37, died on December 6 and Carlos Juan Francisco, 42, died on December 4, both in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. The tragic passing of Okpu and Francisco marks 14 reported deaths in ICE custody under the Biden administration.
Washington, DC – New reports indicate that the Biden administration has signaled willingness to use immigrants as bargaining chips to push through his October funding request.
Louisiana — Today, Detention Watch Network, the Southeast Dignity Not Detention Coalition, the National Immigration Project (NIPNLG), and RFK Human Rights released an ‘Anthology of Abuse’ on the still operational Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana. Its short history as a U.S.
Washington, DC – Today, following a Senate Appropriations Hearing, activists and immigration attorneys, including Muslims for Just Futures, Pangea Legal Services, and Project ANAR confronted Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas over President Biden’s $105 billion supplemental funding request, including $8.7 billion in additional funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), doubling down on a policy of hyper militarization and incarceration.
Watch the video of the confrontation with Mayorkas
Washington, DC – Right now, at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, seven activists representing progressive causes across the United States, including immigrant rights groups, are being arrested for demanding an immediate ceasefire and that members of Congress vehemently reject the White House’s supplemental funding request. With red paint on their hands, activists chanted “from Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go!”
Washington, DC — On Friday, the White House made a supplemental funding request of $105 billion, including a $13.6 billion in border supplemental, doubling down on a policy of hyper militarization and incarceration that makes our communities less safe. Most of the funding is designated for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and while it provides some crucial humanitarian aid, a majority of the remainder of the request is for military resources through the Department of Defense (DOD).
United States - Yesterday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that a 32-year-old man named Julio Cesar Chirino Peralta died in its custody. ICE had detained Mr. Peralta at the Port Isabel Detention Center in Los Fresnos, Texas, for less than a month before the day of his death on October 8. Mr. Peralta is the 12th person who has died in ICE custody during the Biden administration's first term.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - “Caged Dreams,” a new documentary from Detention Watch Network that premiered today, details the stories of Johannes Favi, Beatriz Batres, and Felipe Diosdado, who were previously detained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody and suffered long-lasting trauma due to their incarceration.
Washington, DC – This week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released its latest data on the number of people in its custody, which reported 35,589 people are currently in ICE detention, an eight percent increase from 32,743 people that was reported on August 31.
In response to the alarming growth of people in ICE detention, Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network issued the following statement:
Farmville, Virginia - On September 15th, while protesters demanded the closure of ICA-Farmville in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., local town officials signed a two-week contract extension behind closed doors to continue detaining people in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center until September 30th.
