Detention
Court Orders ICE to End Its Practice of Unlawfully Detaining Immigrant Youth
Immigrant children who arrive in the United States without a parent are placed in shelters or foster care while their guardianship and immigration process play out. But all too often, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) takes them away as soon as they turn 18 and locks them in an… Read More
Court-Ordered Release of Children May Lead to Family Separation
Federal Judge Dolly Gee has ordered that children held for more than 20 days at U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) family detention centers must be released. The order was the latest development in Judge Gee’s oversight of the Flores Settlement, a decades-old binding decree governing the detention and treatment of immigrant children in government custody. Read More
ICE Tells Parents to Separate From Their Children or Risk Indefinite Detention Together
When the Trump administration implemented mass family separation in 2018, the American public was outraged. Two years later, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is using a different strategy with the risk of a similar result. The agency is now forcing parents at its family detention centers to choose between… Read More
What ICE Must Do Following the First Coronavirus Death in Its Custody
The prognosis for people in immigration detention facilities during this global pandemic is grim. On Wednesday, news broke of the first person to die while in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody after testing positive for the coronavirus. Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejia was a long-time… Read More
ICE Faces Lawsuit Over Blocking Phone Access to Detainees
A free phone call can mean the difference between a fair day in court and being deported to harm—or worse—for individuals held in immigration detention centers. Immigrants may not be able to meet with their attorneys in person, leaving phone calls as the only way to communicate about their cases. Read More
The US Government Can Now Collect DNA From Thousands of People Who Have Never Committed a Crime
The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) proposed rule mandating the collection of DNA from nearly all immigrants in government custody became final on April 8, 2020. For the first time in U.S. history, the federal government will be able to collect DNA from people–without consent–who have never… Read More
Fearing Coronavirus, People in ICE Custody Ask the Courts to Order Their Release
Medical experts and government officials urge people to social distance to avoid contracting the coronavirus. Yet, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues to hold tens of thousands of people in cramped detention facilities. Fearing for their safety, immigrants and their advocates have turned to the courts to seek release from… Read More
US Endangers Other Countries by Deporting People With the Coronavirus
Countries around the world that still have few coronavirus cases are bracing themselves for the spread of the pandemic. Many have restricted international arrivals to prevent a surge in cases like the one in the United States, which they would not have the resources to fight. Meanwhile, U.S. Immigration and… Read More
ICE Must Release People From Detention to Slow the Spread of the Coronavirus
Social distancing has been mandated in many places throughout the United States to slow the spread of COVID-19, the new coronavirus. Meanwhile, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues to detain approximately 38,000 people in close quarters. This conflicts with medical experts’ repeated advice to decrease the detention population. Read More
3 Actions ICE Should Take Now During the Coronavirus Pandemic
As the global death toll from coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to mount and communities take steps to stem the further spread of the virus, immigration advocates and lawyers have sounded the alarm bells for the thousands of immigrants held in civil detention facilities. Responses from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)… Read More
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