ACLU Supporter, today, we're in court fighting the abusive conditions at the Everglades detention facility, cruelly dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" – just one day after the government opened another horrifying makeshift detention center. Now, we need your help to take the fight to Congress.

You read that correctly: The Trump administration just opened what will become the largest immigration detention site in the country today at Fort Bliss, a military base spanning two states with land in Texas and New Mexico. The site is slated to hold up to 5,000 people and will cost an estimated $1.26 billion of taxpayers' money.

Our government is rapidly constructing new detention sites, even while mistreating people in its custody – denying medical care to a girl with a brain tumor, forcing pregnant women to sleep on the floor, and withholding sanitary products, to name just a few examples. We need our members of Congress to knock on the doors of these detention sites and do everything in their power to protect the human rights and dignity of the people trapped inside.

While our lawyers fight in court against the Everglades facility today, you can also join us in calling on Congress to act now to shut down the ICE detention machine. If you're with us, send a message to your representatives and demand action.

This is a continuation of the site's insidious history. In World War II, Fort Bliss was used as an internment camp for Japanese Americans. In President Trump's first term, it was used to detain children separated from their families. This site has been home to some of the most appalling, shameful moments of American history.

Now, it will once again be used to tear people from their homes and communities – our neighbors, loved ones, and friends.

Like the Everglades detention center, the Fort Bliss center is slated to be a tent facility that will leave people vulnerable to extreme heat and sandstorms and subject the people detained there to abysmal conditions.

Detention sites like Fort Bliss and the Everglades detention center put people's lives at risk and waste taxpayers' dollars. As our legal team fights these abuses in court, we all must call on Congress to conduct oversight visits and fight to shut down the ICE detention system.

Thanks for your action today,

Naureen Shah
Pronouns: She, her, hers
Director of Government Affairs, ACLU Equality Division