Our Values: The right to human mobility is as fundamental as the right to live a life free of discrimination and to freely express one’s opinions. People who migrate have the right to seek protection and regularize their immigration status, without being criminalized, detained or locked up.
Our Values: The right to human mobility is as fundamental as the right to live a life free of discrimination and to freely express one’s opinions. People who migrate have the right to seek protection and regularize their immigration status, without being criminalized, detained or locked up.
Ana migrated to the United States from Guatemala in 2013. In this video, she shares what she experienced while locked up in an immigration detention center in the U.S. To guarantee #FreedomForAll, we must end immigration detention and re-invest the billions spent on lock-ups to fund a universal legal representation program for people who migrate and those in any immigration proceedings. Join the movement.
#FreedomForAll is a movement of migrant-led organizations and allies that asserts that freedom is a fundamental human right and we must pursue a series of policies designed to achieve freedom for migrant and immigrant communities. Furthermore, freedom is only possible when we abolish immigration detention and defund private prisons.To guarantee freedom for all, the U.S. government must invest at least $400 million as part of the Department of Justice (DOJ) budget for a universal legal representation program for people who migrate. Everyone deserves a fair shot in court, regardless of immigration status. No one should have to show up in court, frightened and confused, without access to legal counsel and a fair shot at arguing their case.
— Sebastian Melendez, Garífuna Honduran, age 23.
The United States is the country with the most incarcerated people in the world. There are currently more than 2 million people detained[1] in U.S. prisons, which is 20% of the entire global population of detained people. Within the last 40 years, we’ve seen overall incarceration rates grow exponentially. This has resulted in the sustained growth and expansion of the systemic detention of migrants in the United States. Additionally, our nation’s history of anti-Black[2] and anti-Indigenous migration policies and practices have led to an overrepresentation of people of color in immigration detention.
During the U.S. ”war on drugs,”[3] toxic narratives made it harder for migrants to come to the U.S. because of a rising, racist fear that migrants from Latin America were bringing drugs and crime into the U.S. The association between Latinx immigrants, crime, and drugs remains today.
In 1996, anti-immigrant laws were passed[4] with the false belief that they would provide security and would be “tough on crime,” even though there has been no credible connection between immigrants and crime. The key law that was passed was the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA). IIRIRA eliminated defenses against deportation and created barriers for legalization. The law made it easier for the government to deport immigrants, and expanded who could be detained and deported, leading to lawful permanent residents being deported. It also made it more difficult for people fleeing from persecution to apply for asylum. The list of criminal convictions that result in deportation was also expanded, meaning relatively minor, non-violent crimes would lead to deportation and family separation.
The terrorist attacks against the U.S. on September 11, 2001[4] also stirred up anti-immigrant sentiment and laws. The U.S. government equated immigrants with terrorists, which led to the creation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and in turn, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The government and the media portrayed immigration as a threat to the U.S., leading to anti-immigrant policies and sentiments. One of the most consequential immigration policies was created under Obama in 2011: Secure Communities. Secure Communities increased coordination between federal, state, and local law enforcement to detain and deport immigrants. It heightened racial profiling and unjustly deported millions of people.
Immigration detention is an inhumane response to what is a humanitarian issue and a natural phenomenon. There is continued and widespread mental[5], physical[6], and sexual[7] abuse that migrants experience within the detention aparatus despite widespread outcry.
Right now, under Biden, most detainees in immigration detention facilities are people who recently crossed the U.S.-Mexico border; many are seeking asylum or to be reunited with family in the United States. Because the United States has essentially shut down asylum at border ports of entry, asylum seekers are forced to cross the border in order to have a chance at making a case. The lack of an orderly asylum system at the border continues to fuel the detention and deportation machine.
Upon inauguration, the Biden administration signed an executive order to end the use of private prisons for people in federal criminal custody: but this does not apply to immigrant detention centers. However, private prison corporations are already finding loopholes to keep their facilities open and converting them into immigrant detention centers[8] for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Despite the claims of anti-immigrant politicians and agencies, detention does nothing[9] for American security[10] and, on top of the vast human rights abuses occurring in detention facilities, it is a waste of $1.8 billion annually[11]. These funds on detention beds could be better spent on investing in immigrant communities including legal counsel, housing, health, transportation, education, and other programs to support immigrant families.
— alias "Tatiana"
