Acknowledging the hard work that led us here while we prepare for the work ahead

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** FFI Summer Quarterly Newsletter
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Detention Monitoring

Last month, we were grateful and excited to be able to connect with visitation groups and directly impacted advocates and organizers across California during the Pilgrimage for a Better Future ([link removed]) coordinated by the Dignity Not Detention Coalition ([link removed]) and the Interfaith ([link removed]) Movement for Human Integrity ([link removed]) .

The pilgrimage stopped at all of the state’s seven ​​ICE detention facilities over four days and held energizing rallies imbued with spiritual reflections and calls-to-action at each one. In an intentional move to connect the dots between often-siloed movements, we heard not only powerful testimonies from currently detained organizers calling from the inside, but also wisdom and insights from local indigenous leaders and environmental justice workers.
Angel (Detention Resistance ([link removed]) ), Berto (California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance ([link removed]) ), and Marco (Resilient Voices ([link removed]) ) outside of Otay Mesa Detention Facility on May 30. Read more about the San Diego actions here ([link removed]) . Photo credit: Joyce Xi ([link removed]) .

We were particularly inspired by the unprecedented gathering held outside of Imperial Regional Detention Facility ([link removed]) which, due to its remote and conservative location, has historically struggled to garner local presence and mobilization. After hearing directly from detained leaders Ramon, Donald, and Ulises, crowd members signed a powerful petition they had drafted with their seven core demands ([link removed]) .

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose a risk to our communities both on the inside and outside, we are thankful for the times we are able to safely come together and sustain our movement with these critical moments of collective visioning of a world without cages.


** National Immigration Detention Hotline
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In the past two months, FFI’s National Immigration Detention Hotline has answered 2,973 calls from individuals detained in ICE detention. Through these calls and the powerful monitoring work of the FFI Visitation Network, we were able to track ICE abuses and develop a Spring Snapshot ([link removed]) . The information in this report is primarily powered by the courageous reporting by immigrants in detention who come forward to report mistreatment on this free and unmonitored Hotline.

Since April 22, we have onboarded 11 new hotline volunteers. With these amazing additions, we are able to help people in detention in a few additional languages including Arabic, Haitian Creole, French, and

Telugu! We are grateful for their dedication and support and cannot do this work without dedicated and passionate volunteers! We are still in need of volunteers who speak languages other than English or Spanish including indigenous languages in order to support as many people in detention as we can. If you speak a language other than Spanish or English and are interested in joining the FFI Hotline Volunteer Team, please fill out our volunteer interest form ([link removed]) .

Immigration Bond Fund

With your generous support over the past few months, we have been able to secure the freedom of eight individuals by posting their immigration bond. One of these people who was freed was actively working with Freedom for Immigrants to expose abuses inside the notorious Otay Mesa Detention Center.
Although posting bond frees people from the physical restrictions of immigrant prisons, many are still subject to other forms of incarceration even after release, through ICE's rapidly expanding "Alternatives to Detention" surveillance program. These digital prisons continue the cycle of abuse,
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trauma, and stripping of human dignity. We recently had the opportunity to participate with several other organizations and many directly impacted folks to create a report, Tracked and Trapped: Experiences from ICE Digital Prisons ([link removed]) , to expose the harms of electronic incarceration. We encourage you to read the report and join us in the future in fighting back against digital prisons.


Celebrating 10 years on the road to abolition

As an organization and within the greater movement against immigration detention, we have had to respond to changing circumstances, like the increased use of digital surveillance and monitoring ICE’s inadequate response to COVID-19, and address new challenges as they appear. With bold community members like you, we will be able to better face current realities and future needs as they arise.

Next month we will be launching a new campaign, "FFI's Until Everyone is Free Annual Appeal: Celebrating 10 years”! Your support in this exciting campaign will help us strategize and tackle current challenges and prepare for those that lay ahead. A successful annual appeal will ensure that we can continue this critical work to abolish detention.

We look forward to sharing more information about "FFI's Until Everyone is Free Annual Appeal” in the coming weeks, and keep an eye out for our 4th of July social media campaign, to help us bring awareness to the fact that our community members in detention are not free on Independence Day.

In Solidarity,

Wensley Peguero
[email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
Development Director
Freedom for Immigrants
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