All posts tagged detention

Sep

Watch: Detainees & Supporters Call on DHS to #CutTheContracts

On the morning of Wednesday September 28th, Color of Change, the Black Alliance for Justice Immigration, and members of the #Not1More Campaign rallied at the Department of Homeland Security to demand the DHS follow the example of the Department of Justice and cancel its contracts with private prison companies that run a majority of its immigrant detention centers.

The coalition delivered over 200,000 petitions collected by Color of Change, BAJI, Mijente and the #Not1More Campaign, CREDO, ACLU, Presente, Daily Kos, and America’s Voice as well as an organizational letter from Detention Watch Network with over 350 organizations co-signing.

After the delivery event, the detainees confronted DHS Sec. Johnson on the street in DC with Cindy Barrientos imploring for the release of her son Wilhen who has spent more than a year in detention despite his three other siblings all having already being granted asylum.

Sign to Free Cindy’s Son, Wilhen

Aug

Teachers Celebrate Wildin’s Upcoming Release, Demand Other Youth Be Freed

Tags: detention, durham, durham association of educators, wildin acosta, youth

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Durham, NC teachers celebrate the forthcoming release of Wildin Acosta and call for the immediate release of the remaining detained students and the dismantling of ICE

We, as members of the Durham Association of Educators, are writing today to lift up the importance of community-based organizing coupled with legal support. After 6 months in detention, our student Wildin Guillen Acosta is finally scheduled to come home to Durham. At the same time, at least 9 other NC and GA youth remain detained in Georgia and so we call for the immediate release of these young people.

Last night, Wildin’s lawyer confirmed that the Judge had cancelled the full bond hearing and granted the $10,000 stipulated bond without the hearing.

Mar

DHS and State Department Prepare Mass Deportation of Hundreds of Muslims

Tags: detention, drum, mpower, muslim, state department

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After Years of Prolonged Detention and Abuse, Bangladeshi Detainees Would Return to Imminent Danger of Imprisonment, Disappearances, and Death

March 24, 2016 – New York, NY
Immigration authorities have begun transporting South Asian detainees to Florence, Arizona, as a staging ground for impending mass deportation. Many of the Muslim migrants from Bangladesh being transported were participants in the #Freedomgiving hunger strikes at the end of 2015 that roiled a dozen detention centers across the country and brought attention to the prolonged, unjustified, and discriminatory detention of Muslim and South Asian migrants. Read more

Mar

Immigrant Detention Center Inspections Concede Major Issues But Won’t Resolve Them

Tags: detention, inspection, office of inspector general

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Contact: B. Loewe, 773.791.4668, bloewe@mijente.net

March 16, 2016

Stating that it was responding to issues raised by advocates, the DHS Office of the Inspector General announced it would be doing surprise inspections at immigrant detention centers and reporting its results to the Department, Congress, and the public.

Advocates say that announcing something as basic as unannounced inspections exposes the current lack of oversight in the system that detains an average of more than 30,000 people daily and cite the OIG’s own history of corruption as a cause for skepticism.

“DHS has shown time and again that it cannot police itself,” explains Marisa Franco, Director of the #Not1More campaign. “Detainees organizing hunger strikes and work stoppages inside have been alerting the nation to the five-alarm fire of abuse inside detention facilities and DHS is responding with a squirt gun.”

Citing the rampant abuse of transgender detainees, suspicious deaths at Eloy, and other facilities, medical neglect, retaliation against hunger strikers, and the continued insistence on detaining mothers and children despite being out of compliance with federal court orders, advocates say any report done well will outline a detention system that requires not just reform but a dismantling of the detention system that mirrors the efforts to reduce incarceration in the criminal justice system.
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Dec

In Face of ICE Torture Tactics, Three Centers Continue #Freedomgiving Hunger Strike

Tags: detention, etowah, freedomgiving, hunger strike

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Adelanto and Etowah Detainees End Strike as #Freedomgiving Detainees Demand Release and Halt to Removal

December 10, 2015

For the past two weeks, people seeking safety in the US who ICE has kept detained for up to two years have refused meals as part of the #freedomgiving hunger strike in seven different detention centers.

Started by 110 detainees and expanded to 150, 39 are continuing the strike at Krome, South Texas, and Aurora facilities at last count. Read more

Dec

Seven Hunger Strikers Sent to Medical Unit as ICE Uses Sleep Deprivation and Attempts to Deport Participants

Tags: adelanto, detention, drum, etowah, freedomgiving, hunger strike, theo lacy

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As Situation Escalates, Former Hunger Striker to Appear on Sanders Livestream Event at 3:00pm [watch here]

Updates:

Theo Lacy suspends strike after reaching agreement for release from ICE
Otay hunger strikers resume eating after 11 days (including one man who continued for three days even after heart surgery)
Adelanto and Etowah detainees report sleep deprivation with guards waking them every 15 minutes
Etowah detainees report threats of force feeding
7 Etowah detainees sent to medical unit now on 12th day of strike
At least four of the original El Paso hunger strikers were put on planes for removal and then returned to their cells this weekend
Krome, Etowah, and Aurora cut off calls to known supporters, trying to sever communication.

Dec

Theo Lacy Hunger Strikers Reach Agreement While Concerns Rise Over Other Strike Participants’ Health

Tags: detention, hunger strike, theo lacy

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#Freedomgiving Hunger Strike in Detention Reaches 10th Day, ICE Urged to Release Participants

The day after protests prompted comment from all three democratic presidential candidates with Sanders and O’Malley issuing support, an ICE supervisor visited the 37 asylum-seekers who started the #freedomgiving hunger strike. The meeting led to the detainees temporarily ending their strike under the agreement that anyone waiting for travel documents will be released within two weeks and ICE will honor its protocol, releasing all pending cases on parole. Read more

Dec

#Freedomgiving Hunger Strike Supporters Push Candidates to Respond

Tags: clinton, detention, drum, elections, fahd ahmed, freedomgiving, o'malley, sanders

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As Detainees Enter 8th Day of #Freedomgiving Hunger Strike, Protests Prompt Candidate Response, ICE Continues Retaliation

O’Malley Calls for End to Detention, Sanders Issues Support, Clinton Pivots to Beltway Talking Points

“Generic pledges of future positions are inadequate when there are people in detention literally starving to be free right now.” – Fahd Ahmed, Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM)

Citing that leading Democratic candidates have made promises of reform in the future, #Freedomgiving hunger strike supporters rallied at Hillary Clinton’s office yesterday demanding that she and the other candidates speak out on the current crisis in detention.

Before the rally, Fahd Ahmed, executive director of Desis Rising Up and Moving explained, “People seeking safety in the US who instead find themselves locked behind bars have refused their meals for the past week. The fact that they have not been released after as much as two years in detention is a failure of the immigration system. If the candidates don’t speak out on their behalf we are also witnessing a failure of humanity. Bernie Sanders started a petition for refugees coming to the US but what about the ones already in detention here?” Read more

Oct

What Everyone Should Know About The Latest Civil Rights in Detention Report

Tags: civil rights, detention, paromita shah, report

Comments: No

Paromita Shah is the Associate Director of the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild. She reviews the latest report on detention and offers insights below:

This month, the United States Commission of Civil Rights (USSCR) offered withering criticism about the treatment of detained immigrants in the U.S. in its required report on the immigration detention, “The State of Civil Rights at Immigration Detention Facilities.”

The USSCR found that the United States failed to comply with critical federal policies governing basic health and wellness practices in detention centers and was “interfering with the constitutional rights afforded to detained immigrants.”

The report unequivocally recommended acting immediately to release families from detention. The report made dozens of recommendations ranging from medical care, language access, safety, free exercise of religion and treatment of children, families, and vulnerable populations.

Jun

Response to ICE New Memo on Processing Trans Detainees

Tags: detention, Familia, LGBTQ, song, trans, Transgender Law Center

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ICE and DHS Have Failed at Providing Minimum Safety and Dignity for LGBTQ Immigrants in Detention, Immigrant Detention Must End

Less than one week after Jennicet Gutierrez courageously interrupted the White House Pride reception to demand that President Obama end the detention and abuse of transgender immigrant women, the administration made public a new memo on the topic.

In response to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) guidance, “Further Guidance Regarding the Care of Transgender Detainees,” the #Not1More campaign and member groups – Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, Transgender Law Center, GetEQUAL, and Southerners On New Ground – issued the following statement:

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All posts tagged detention

Last night, Wildin’s lawyer confirmed that the Judge had cancelled the full bond hearing and granted the $10,000 stipulated bond without the hearing.

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