As advocates applaud a judge’s ruling that holding women and children in detention violates a 1997 court decision, a social worker will today testify about the “deplorable” conditions she witnessed while working at the Karnes detention facility in Texas. From Esther Lee of ThinkProgress: At a Judiciary Democrats’ Forum...
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Citing a 1997 court settlement on the detention of children, late last week U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee ruled that hundreds of mothers and children currently held in family detention facilities must be released by the federal government. From the AP: “The decision Friday by U.S. District Judge Dolly...
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Six immigrant rights leaders were arrested yesterday during an action protesting the treatment of LGBTQ immigrants while in ICE detention. “We are asking President Obama to free all LGBT people from detention because detention is not protecting them. Detention is brutalizing them,” said Brooke Cerda-Guzmán, an undocumented transgender woman....
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Transgender detainees will now be held in facilities matching their gender identity, ICE immigration officials announced on Monday. From Fusion: “We believe this guidance is the most comprehensive for transgender individuals in any custodial entity,” Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, the deputy assistant director for custody programs for ICE, told Fusion in...
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In a press conference earlier today, a group of House Democrats welcomed news that DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson will make changes, including limiting detention times and lowering bond rates, to the family detention system. But after visiting two facilities in Texas earlier this week, including one where a detained mother recently...
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Yesterday, eight House Democrats spent several hours meeting with detained mothers and their children at the Karnes County Residential Center in Karnes, Texas. Rep. Joaquin Castro, who led the Congressional delegation, called it “a very emotional visit,” with one mother saying she and her child have been detained at...
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In a press conference yesterday, eight House Democrats announced plans to visit two detention centers in Texas early next week. The House members, including Whip Steny Hoyer, Rep. Joaquin Castro, Rep. Judy Chu, Rep. Raul Grijalva, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, and Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard,...
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With pressure from both advocates and members of Congress mounting over the past several weeks, immigration officials announced yesterday plans to release at least six immigrant mothers from a Texas detention facility. “The women now eligible for bond had previous requests for release denied by U.S. Immigration and Customs...
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Earlier today, immigration, family, and children’s advocates held a “Twitterstorm” calling for DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson to end the administration’s harmful family detention policy. The movement to end family detention has gained considerable steam over the past few months, with over 150 Democrats from both chambers of Congress sending letters...
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Today, Senate Democrats sent a letter to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson urging him to “end the practice of presumptive detention of families.” “While these mothers and children wait their turn before an immigration judge, there are many alternatives to detention that are more humane, cost-efficient, and will keep families...
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