Prolonged Detention
Prolonged detention can do irreparable harm to asylum seekers, both physically and psychologically. Browse our advocacy work demanding the release of individuals – including immigrant children – senselessly detained for prolonged periods of time and advocating for the implementation of Alternatives to Detention (ATDs).
Letter Urges an Affirmative File Review for Every Person in ICE Custody
February 11, 2021
The American Immigration Council and the American Immigration Lawyers Association joined over 120 other organizations in asking the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the White House for an affirmative file review of every person in ICE custody, utilizing a presumption of release, with a process for review and escalation and the prioritization of the most vulnerable individuals. It is essential that the Biden administration’s review of enforcement priorities not leave behind the 14,000 people already in ICE detention, where they face family separation, abuse, medical neglect, serious illness, and even death.
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Letter to the Biden Administration: Executive Action to Transform Interior Immigration Enforcement
January 18, 2021
The American Immigration Council and AILA are signatories of a January 18, 2021 letter which offers recommendations to the Biden administration related to enforcement against individuals present in the United States, including a moratorium on all deportations and interior enforcement.
Congressional Letter Calls for the Immediate Release of Family Detained in Dilley, Texas
January 10, 2019
On January 10th, 2019, Senator Jeff Merkley, Senator Mazie Hirono, and Representative Judy Chu wrote a letter to the Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Ronald D. Vitiello, calling for the immediate release of Cristy and her mother, an asylum-seeking family facing prolonged detention at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas.
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Families Deserve Safety and Freedom – Not Jail!
November 06, 2018
Nearly 80 mothers and children were placed in prolonged detention in Dilley, Texas following their separations at the border this summer. Some were detained for upwards of six months. The Immigration Justice Campaign partnered with Amnesty International and Proyecto Dilley (formerly the Dilley Pro Bono Project to advocate for the release of these families. As of Friday, November 30, 2018, all reunified families in Dilley were freed to continue their journeys toward asylum in the United States outside of detention. Thank you to those who joined our campaign to #FreetheFamilies!
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AILA and the American Immigration Council’s Comment Against the Indefinite Detention of Children
September 2018
In September, 2018, the government issued a proposed regulation that would dismantle the Flores Settlement Agreement. The proposal – if finalized – would lead to the indefinite detention of children and families in federal immigration detention facilities. Read AILA and the American Immigration Council’s comment to the government opposing this regulation.
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Handwritten Letters from Previously Separated Moms Detained in Dilley
22 immigrant mothers previously separated from their children and now detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, wrote letters to the public about being forcibly separated from their children by the government. Read their stories.
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