Detention
New York Times Exposes ‘Shame of America’s Family Detention Camps’
The New York Times details the government’s dangerous and expanding practice of detaining women and children who have recently crossed our southwest border in the magazine’s cover story this weekend “The Shame of America’s Family Detention Camps.” The facility the Times describes in Artesia, New Mexico, has since been… Read More
A Compelling Case Study in Family Detention and Pro Bono Counsel
When the family detention center in Artesia, New Mexico, was hastily propped up by the U.S. government in order to detain and rapidly process women and children for deportation, immigration rights advocates raised alarms. Over the course of several months, as an uptick in families and unaccompanied minors appeared at… Read More
New Family Detention Facility Opens in Dilley, Texas, Despite Due Process Problems
The Department of Homeland Security opened the largest immigrant family detention center in Dilley, Texas this week. The privately owned facility is designed to house 2,400 people—mostly women and children—who are caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The opening of this detention center reflects the administration’s continuing commitment to its flawed… Read More
DHS Announces the Transfer of Immigrant Families from Artesia to New Facility
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today that it plans to close the detention facility in Artesia, New Mexico, where immigrant mothers and children currently are jailed. The closure of Artesia comes with the opening of a permanent, drastically larger family detention center in Dilley, Texas. Rather than be… Read More
Department of Homeland Security Doubles Down on Family Detention
Washington D.C. – Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced plans to close the detention facility in Artesia, New Mexico, where it detains mothers and children. Unfortunately, the closure of this facility does not mark the end of a dark chapter in our country’s immigration history. Instead it signifies… Read More
FOIA Lawsuit on Use of Expedited Removal Against Families
On October 21, 2014, the American Immigration Council, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, with co-counsel, the National Immigration Law Center and Jenner & Block LLP, filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act to compel the release of government documents regarding the use of the expedited removal process against families with children, including those detained by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in Artesia, New Mexico. The suit was filed in the federal district court for the Southern District of New York. Read More
Reports of Sexual Abuse at Family Detention Center Follows History of Abuse Allegations
Immigrant women held at a Texas family detention facility allege that guards have sexually abused and harassed them, according to a complaint legal groups filed with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last week. Lawyers say at least three employees at the Karnes County center “are suspected of… Read More
The Failings of Family Detention at Artesia
The inhumanity of family detention and the danger of short-changing basic due process protections are on full display in the detention center in Artesia, New Mexico, where hundreds of women and children are being held by the U.S. government. The Washington Post reports this week on a tour they took… Read More
Children in Jail: What It’s Like for Immigrant Families Held at Karnes, Texas
This summer, tens of thousands of Central American families fled violence to the U.S. southern border. The administration responded by accelerating deportation proceedings, converting government facilities to family detention centers, and then prioritizing the detention and removal of families. First, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) turned the Federal Law… Read More
Immigration Bar Urges Congress, President to Shut Down Family Detention Center in Artesia
This week, the nation’s largest association of immigration attorneys and professors sent a powerful letter to Congress and the President urging them to immediately close the family detention facility in Artesia, New Mexico, where the U.S. currently detains women and children fleeing violence and persecution in Central America. Read More
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