Dear John,

A horrifying whistleblower report out of the Irwin County Detention Center, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Georgia, alleges staff and officials knowingly ignored medical complaints and refused to implement coronavirus safety measures for both staff and detainees. And we have learned of reports that detainees in that center were forcibly sterilized without their knowledge or consent. This is abuse, and it fits a pattern of racist mistreatment that we’ve seen in our immigration system for decades. We can’t let this continue on our watch.

To be clear, separating families, denying medical care, and the forced sterilization of Black and brown bodies have long been a part of our country’s shameful history. Indigenous communities, enslaved Africans and their descendants, and Latinx communities, have all been victims of government-sanctioned sterilization—with reports of this happening as recently as 2010 in California prisons. And there are still laws on the books that allow for the sterilization of people living with disabilities without their consent. It’s horrifying and shocking that it’s still happening. While this shouldn’t surprise us, it should move us to action.

ICE is acting in line with a long racist and sexist history, one that totally devalues our bodies, lives, and futures. We can’t allow ourselves to look away. And we can’t let detention centers like this one continue to operate. The only way to keep detained people safe is to release them. And to do that, we all need to act now. Tell Acting Secretary Wolf: shut down the Irwin County Detention Center immediately.

Immigration detention centers are a breeding ground for violence, abuse and neglect. It is past time to end the present-day systems that devalue human life. All immigration detention facilities must close, and those responsible must be held accountable. Collectively, we must continue to demand justice, healing, and most importantly, safety for those in detention centers and their communities.

Please follow and support these organizations who are working directly on the ground in these communities fighting for justice for immigrants in Georgia:

Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights
Georgia Detention Watch
Project South
South Georgia Immigrant Support Network

Sincerely,
Fatima Goss Graves
(she/her/hers)
President & CEO
National Women's Law Center