Despite our advocacy, ICE attempted to deport the men on October 14th. Thanks to Freedom for Immigrants’ direct advocacy, two of the men in our complaint were pulled off the plane. However, the other 6 along with approximately 60 asylum seekers from Cameroon and 28 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo were deported.
What has transpired since has been concerning. To learn more, access the complaint, and a background memo we released yesterday, click here. Yesterday’s Guardian article does a great job summarizing the torture taking place.
A huge shout out to Sofia Casini, our Director of Visitation Advocacy Strategies, who led on this complaint. Also our work here would not have been possible without our National Immigration Detention Hotline, where we first connected with approximately 40 men who explained how ICE was abusing them into signing stipulated orders of removal. Thank you to Amanda Diaz, our Hotline manager, and our hotline volunteers. And thank you to our policy team led by Sarah Gardiner for advocating for intervention from the Congressional Black Caucus and the House Committee on Homeland Security, among others. We are grateful and want to uplift our partners in this struggle, especially Southern Poverty Law Center, Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention, Cameroonian American Council, Detention Watch Network, Natchez Network, Haitian Bridge Alliance, and Families for Freedom.
Warm regards,
Christina M. Fialho | She/Her/Hers
Co-Founder/Executive Director
FREEDOM for IMMIGRANTS
Office: 310-765-4044 (Los Angeles, CA)
www.freedomforimmigrants.org
Freedom for Immigrants is working to abolish immigration detention. Learn more & donate here.