Detention
United States Agrees to Settle Lawsuit Alleging Wrongful Deportation
Washington D.C. – After more than two years of litigation, the U.S. government has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Leonel Ruiz on behalf of his minor daughter, E.R. The suit alleged that in 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),… Read More
Homeland Security Secretary Announces Changes to Family Detention Policies
Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson released a statement on plans to make “substantial changes” to the agency’s family detention policies. The following is a statement, in response, from Ben Johnson, Executive Director of the American Immigration Council. Read More
Government Shows No Signs of Backing Down on Family Detention
Washington D.C. – Yesterday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced efforts to “enhance oversight” to help ensure that families are detained in “safe and humane facilities” and in doing so demonstrated no signs of reevaluating its misguided family detention policy. The American Immigration Council welcomes efforts to increase access to legal… Read More
Immigrants’ Rights Groups to Provide Pro Bono Legal Services to Detained Families in Texas
Washington D.C. – Immigrants’ rights and immigrant legal services groups are announcing the establishment of a family detention project to provide legal services to children and their mothers detained in Karnes City and Dilley, Texas, and to advocate for the end of family detention. The Catholic Legal Immigration Network, the … Read More
Supreme Court to Consider Whether DHS Can Subject Noncitizens to Prolonged, Mandatory Detention
Last month, the Supreme Court announced that, in fall 2016, it will hear arguments in Jennings v. Rodriguez, a challenge to the prolonged detention of noncitizens in removal proceedings. At issue is whether the government can keep a noncitizen who is fighting her deportation case locked up for however… Read More
Ninth Circuit Decision Should Prompt End to Family Detention
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the Flores Settlement (a 1997 agreement that set legal standards for the detention and release of immigrant children) applies to both unaccompanied and accompanied minors. The Court also found that neither Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) detention and release policies at existing… Read More
Photographic Evidence of Conditions in CBP’s Short-Term Detention Facilities “Hieleras” Revealed
A judge in Arizona unsealed photographs central to ongoing litigation challenging deplorable and unconstitutional conditions in Border Patrol’s short-term detention facilities in the Tucson Sector. The never-before-seen-photos show the inside of facilities known as “hieleras” or ice-boxes—a term coined by those held in the frigid concrete cells. The… Read More
Public Radio Report Mischaracterizes U.S. Asylum Process
Media outlets are reporting on the uptick in the number of individuals crossing the southern border into the U.S. This trend is not surprising given the ongoing violence in Central America. The conditions in the region are not significantly improving by any measure, and as a result people continue to flee while the Administration’s refugee “deterrence policy” fails to deter many. Read More
Texas Judge Continues to Delay the Licensing of State Detention Centers as Childcare Facilities
On Friday, a Texas judge extended the temporary restraining order preventing Texas from licensing the Dilley detention center as a childcare facility. Dilley is one of two privately operated detention centers in Texas that house Central American mothers and children who fled violence and poverty in their home countries and are seeking protection in the United States. Read More
Mothers Held in Family Detention Centers Ask for Support from White House Mothers
Mothers who risked everything to flee horrific violence in their home countries, only to be held in immigration detention, gathered alongside advocates in front of the White House earlier this week in honor of Mother’s Day. The event, “Let Hope Bloom,” called on mothers in the administration to immediately visit… Read More
All gifts are matched dollar for dollar up to $75,000
No one should face the immigration system alone
