Dear Friends, Alarmingly, President Trump has recently announced plans to triple the size of the U.S. immigration detention system from a capacity for 40,000 people to 120,000. This expanded capacity would include 30,000 people to be detained at the Guantánamo Bay U.S. military base in Cuba and at least four new 10,000-bed ICE detention centers – as well as 14 smaller scale facilities, each with the capacity for 700-1,000 people. Take Action: Write to Congress to urge them to stop these cruel policies by denying the resources needed to carry out this immoral expansion! These plans will require a massive infusion of resources from the federal government to pay for the construction and staffing of new large-scale detention facilities on military bases and elsewhere. Much of that money will be going into the pockets of private prison and military contractors. This is at the same time that Congress is proposing deep cuts to critical support programs like Medicaid and SNAP. This week, NRCAT joined more than 200 organizations in sending a letter to Congress opposing the expansion of immigration detention. Organized by Detention Watch Network and United We Dream, the organizations demanded that Congress reject funding for the Trump Administration’s extreme and unprecedented multi-pronged expansion of the immigrant detention system. Earlier this week, Sen. Richard Durbin and democratic leaders on the Senate Judiciary and Appropriations Committees sent a letter to President Trump denouncing the transfer of immigrants to Guantánamo and asking important questions of the President’s plans to use the site. This comes amidst reports of the abuse that migrants sent to Guantánamo Bay have said they have endured (see recent reporting from NPR and the Washington Post). Already, more than 200 migrants have been moved from the U.S. to the base, with reports that many of them were then flown back to their home countries without any knowledge of where they were going. NRCAT will continue to monitor the transfers of migrants to Guantánamo Bay and the threats to human rights presented by plans for the proliferation of migrant detention on military bases and in federal facilities nationwide. It is critical that Members of Congress hear from people of faith and conscience with a loud, resounding repudiation of these cruel and immoral policies - write to your Members of Congress today. Thank you for taking action! In community,
The NRCAT Team | 
