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ACLU Supporter, this just in from our lawyers: We sent a letter today demanding that ICE end the inhumane immigration detention at Fort Bliss and immediately stop deporting people to third countries. Here's what to know.
Immigrants held in this facility are facing extreme abuse. People are suffering beatings and sexual abuse by officers. They're being given inadequate and rotten food and foul water. They've been denied soap, toilet paper, and adequate medical care. Access to legal counsel has been restricted. One teenager was beaten so severely that he lost consciousness and had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance in an incident that led to hearing loss. These abuses are ongoing with little to no transparency or accountability from ICE.
That's why we made our message clear to ICE today – detailing the horrific abuse reported in interviews with 45 people, along with sworn declarations from 16 others detained at this facility and demanding the detention center be shut down for good.
We warned that detention at Fort Bliss would be a humanitarian disaster from the moment it was opened in July. This is the same site used during World War II to intern people of Japanese descent – and turning it into an immigration detention center just continues its disturbing legacy of abuse.
Now, as the facility has become the country's largest detention center with a current capacity to hold 4,000 people, those warnings are proving to be accurate.
No one should face this kind of abuse at the hands of the U.S. government. We'll keep fighting until this center – and ALL centers like it – are shut down for good.
Together,
The ACLU Team
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