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Dear John,
On January 21st, millions of Americans woke up to a new administration with the feeling that an end to the Trump administration’s human rights abuses was finally at hand. But as the sun rose on ICE detention facilities across the country, one grim reality became clear: For thousands of asylum-seekers and immigrant families, life still hasn’t changed. Their unjust detention continues.
President Biden’s administration has already made some commitments to tear down Trump’s anti-immigration policies. But he has not yet made a concrete commitment to free people from ICE detention — and every single day that goes by is another day that human rights are being violated, and that children and families live in fear, subject to grave health risks in a global pandemic.
That’s why Amnesty is urgently calling on President Biden to take action to make the compassion in his speeches a reality. Sign your name here to demand an end to the Trump era of cruelty against asylum-seekers and immigrants by freeing them — including all families — from ICE detention.
We recognize that change takes time. The deep wounds inflicted by the policies of hatred and xenophobia will follow us for years to come. They can’t heal overnight. But it is up to people of conscience like you and me to stress how urgent it is that we prioritize people who have faced significant racial injustice and pandemic hardship.
Every single day a family or individual spends in an ICE detention facility is another day their lives are in grave danger. These facilities are COVID-19 hotspots, and people are routinely denied requests for medical care and basic necessities.
Asylum-seekers and immigrants must not be just one item on a long list of priorities for President Biden. Lives are on the line, and they should be at the top.
That’s why this is Amnesty International’s number one priority for the first 100 days of the Biden administration, and it’s why we’re asking for your help: Will you sign your name to demand that the Biden administration frees people — and all families — from detention?
Promises without action are nothing more than words. THOUSANDS of people have lived their lives in ICE detention with frightening uncertainty about their future, their safety, and their families.
Today, we have a chance to end that era of dread. Justice demands we take it.
I hope you'll join us with your voice today.
In solidarity,
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