Friend,

We just got the news that the Biden administration is re-opening at least two Trump-era detention facilities for migrant children, which closed in 2019 under public pressure due to their negligent, inhumane, and abusive conditions.

We want to get kids out of cages, not expand jails for kids. These children are seeking refuge here in our country and most have family members here who can take them in. Instead, we’re locking them up and traumatizing them.

Sign now to tell President Joe Biden, his administration, and Congress: End immigrant detention and pass other important immigrant protections. Be bold!

One immigration lawyer who represents unaccompanied minors said: “It’s a step backward, is what it is. It’s a huge step backward.”

Attorney Linda Brandmiller noted that these emergency shelters are purposefully located in remote rural locations outside of public view so that government watchdogs cannot easily conduct oversight to make sure kids’ needs are met.

I’ve been haunted after visiting such centers housing children. I cannot forget the 4 year old boy who approached me from behind glass asking me where his father was. I tried to engage with him, but a staff member stopped me from doing so.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris promised to release kids from cages. We must hold them to that promise.

As Brandmiller explained: “If [the Biden administration] were actually addressing the issues that are endemic in a system that has been established for many years and is flawed, if they were addressing the inadequacies instead of creating a parallel jail for kids, I would have more hope.”

We know that change won’t happen unless we demand it. Can you sign the petition today and share it with your network?

Thank you,

Rashida

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Rashida Tlaib
Date: Thu, Feb 25, 2021
Subject: Sign if you agree: It’s time to end immigrant detention
To: [email protected]

Friend,

President Biden has the power and moral mandate to protect millions of noncitizens.

But under President Biden, the rate of deportations has not slowed down. During this Black History Month, ICE has in fact increased deportations of Haitian asylum-seekers and other Black immigrants.

On the campaign trail, then-candidate Joe Biden promised to stop the use of private prison facilities to detain immigrants. However, as President, he chose to direct only the Department of Justice to not renew private prison contracts—and didn’t mention ICE, which holds the vast majority of private prison contracts in our federal prison system. Now over 80% of detained immigrants are in private facilities.

Add your name now: Demand the Biden administration and Congress take bold and progressive action that protects immigrants, including ending immigrant detention.

Just last week, members of Congress introduced a new immigration reform law under President Biden’s guidance. It is a great step in the right direction, providing needed reforms including a pathway to citizenship for nearly all noncitizens.

While we have immigrant activists to thank for this progress, many are noting that the new bill does not go far enough.

For example, it would allow for an 8-year pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, which is a long time, especially since more than 50% of undocumented people have lived here for over 15 years already.

And the bill does not address the massive humanitarian crisis that is immigrant detention. Under the Trump administration, ICE detention centers expanded significantly, with increases not only in the number of detainees but also in death tolls, guards' use of force, and solitary confinement.

In 2019, the Department of Homeland Security’s own Inspector General found egregious human rights and health violations in ICE facilities, which have only increased during the pandemic. While in Congress, I’ve seen some centers’ horrific conditions firsthand.

Sign now to tell President Joe Biden, his administration, and Congress: It’s past time to pass protections that our immigrant communities need to thrive, including ending immigrant detention.

Closing the camps and releasing detained people are important steps toward addressing the overall criminalization of undocumented immigrants. Immigration legal proceedings fall under civil law, not criminal law, making immigrant detention that treats every undocumented person like a criminal especially outrageous.

That’s one of the reasons why I introduced the Dismantle Mass Incarceration for Public Health Act last year, which would require the release of people in ICE detention (and other eligible people currently in jail or prison) during the COVID-19 crisis and for one year after. We need changes like this and more.

Marisa Franco, who directs the Latinx rights organization Mijente, spoke out against the new immigration bill’s plan for surveillance at the border and said: “This country has a moral obligation to pass big, bold reform. Immigration enforcement policies from past administrations continue to devastate our communities and we need to completely reimagine the current system.”

I agree! As a former immigration and social justice attorney, I’ve seen how ICE disregards the law and human rights.

The agency, along with Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security, were all created in a period of a few months between 2002 and 2003. They’re new institutions, founded as part of a climate of punishing and fearing immigrants.

Just as our country created these harmful agencies quickly, we must move to get rid of them quickly. For years, I’ve joined the grassroots call to defund and abolish ICE.

Now that we finally have Democratic power in the White House and Congress, it’s time to be bold. Our work does not stop because Trump is out of the White House.

Please sign now to demand President Biden, his administration, and Congress act boldly in protecting our immigrant communities. We can’t wait: the lives of millions of people are on the line.

Always serving you,

Rashida