Detention Watch Network

Campaigns

• Don't Fund Trump's Deportation Machine!

  Join us in demanding your representative and senators #DefundHate by publicly calling for significant cuts to the detention and deportation machine and opposing any funding bill which wastes taxpayer dollars on this unaccountable and abusive system. Right now, Congress is making decisions about funding for the rest of this fiscal year, and they're considering massive increases in funding for new ICE and Border Patrol agents to terrorize our communities—an immigration detention system known for its abuse and mismanagement, and wasteful and dangerous border militarization, including the border wall. Congress has failed to pass permanent protections for immigrant youth, TPS-holders, or many other members of our communities. ICE and CBP under the Trump Administration have put the detention and deportation machine on steroids, continue to ramp up aggressive and hateful raids and other immigration enforcement, hide information from the American public, and retaliate against anyone who speaks out. With this track record, it's clear that Congress should be looking at cuts in funding, not huge increases! Congress must take steps now to cut funding that rips families apart and and instead invest in programs proven to support communities growing and thriving together like housing, education, nutrition, and health care.

  68,193 of 75,000 Signatures

  Created by Mary Small
• 

  #FreeThemAll

  No one needs to be in ICE detention as they await their case to work through the courts. Forcing people to remain there during the coronavirus pandemic is cruel and inhumane. Along with ICE’s already horrific record of medical neglect and denying basic necessities for maintaining health and sanitation, people locked up in immigration detention are extremely vulnerable to the spread of infectious disease because they are unable to take the necessary precautions to protect themselves like social distancing and sanitizing regularly. There have already been 10 reported deaths in ICE custody in the last six months alone, and multiple ICE officers and people detained have tested positive for COVID-19. Acting Director of ICE Matthew Albence must act now, before it is too late and the virus spreads like wildfire through detention centers. The answer is clear: release people now.

  30,865 of 35,000 Signatures

  Created by Silky Shah
• Ice Is Manipulating Congress To Fund Their Terror

  Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents are continuing to commit abominable violence against immigrants and people of color. Despite this, ICE’s budget for immigration detention and enforcement has jumped by almost a billion dollars in the last two years through a combination of reckless spending and secretive transfers of money. And now they’re at it again, trying to get a special increase in funding for immigration detention in the short-term funding bill expected to be passed by the end of the month. There is no question that this money causes tremendous harm in the hands of an agency responsible for deaths and widespread sexual assault in detention, violent raids, the separation of thousands of families, and more. We can’t allow ICE to continue manipulating the budget process as they violate basic human rights. We are committed to protecting our communities from the terror of Trump’s deportation force. We call on Congress to stop the special funding increase for detention and not allow ICE and CBP to manipulate them into increasing their funding.

  1,203 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Mary Small
• Stop Force-Feeding & Release Hunger Strikers in ICE Detention

  Two men detained at ICE’s El Paso Service Processing Center remain on hunger strike in protest of their prolonged detention, due process violations, and the threat of deportation to the country they fled. As of September 16, 2019 the men in El Paso are on the 70th day of their hunger strike. Through an open-ended court order obtained by ICE, the men in El Paso are being force-fed for weeks at a time, in violation of medical ethics and human rights standards. A third man was deported after being medically cleared despite being on hunger strike for 63 days. In federal court, one man challenging this torture testified about the pain of having a naso-gastric tube inserted into his body. Despite the pain, he asserted he would continue on hunger strike. "I want my freedom," one man said. "After that, I will drink any protein shake or eat anything that's given to me." Individuals held in detention should have the right to refuse food as a form of protest. The World Medical Association says that force-feeding hunger strikers is "unethical" and "never justified." Force-feeding procedures used in immigration detention are extremely painful—often intentionally so to break the protest—and can constitute cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment under international law. Hunger striking is often the only form of peaceful protest people in immigration detention have available to them to bring attention to what’s happening behind the walls of these immigration jails. These facilities create further obstacles to pursuing immigration relief, trapping people in a nearly impossible situation where they are detained with no end in sight and no possibility for release. ICE has the discretion to release anyone in their custody. Urge members of Congress to take immediate action to demand that ICE stop force-feeding these individuals and release them now from detention to their sponsors and supporters here in the U.S. If they are not released soon, their death is imminent.

  592 of 600 Signatures

  Created by Margaret Brown Vega, AVID
• Senate Democrats: say NO to funding Trump's wall, deportation force and detention camps.

  Trump’s goal is clear: this is a request to fund mass deportation. Trump is putting all the pieces in place for his Deportation Force to carry out mass deportation. In addition to the wall, Trump wants to vastly expand detention camps to lock up more immigrants including families seeking asylum, put more agents on the border, expand raid operations that will terrorize communities, and re-direct more federal funds toward prosecution of immigration violations. These rubber-stamp convictions are intended to warp the statistics and bolster their hate-fueled propaganda portraying immigrants as criminals. Trump is building out a police state, in part through his Deportation Force, so that any challenges to his dystopian detention and deportation nightmare can be swiftly and forcefully suppressed. Already under Trump, we have seen chaos at our airports and in our communities. That chaos and cruelty would only be magnified if Trump gets his way, but in order to implement these plans, he needs more money. We have the power to say NO. Tell Senate Democrats—especially leadership and members of the Appropriations Committee—to say NO to funding for Trump’s Deportation Force. On March 16, the Trump administration requested $3 billion from Congress for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to begin funding his executive orders through September 30, 2017. Republicans will need 60 votes to pass any funding bill - and there are only 52 Republicans in the Senate - so Democrats have the power to resist the Trump agenda. What does $3 billion to DHS pay for? • $1.4 billion to construct the border wall, a physical symbol of exclusion and hate and a clear waste of taxpayer dollars. • $1.2 billion for more detention facilities which will fuel the private prison industry and exacerbate existing, sometimes fatal, abuses in these facilities. • Prepares to hire 1,000 ICE agents in 2018 so more ICE agents will roam communities - including churches and courthouses – creating terror and panic. • Prepares to hire 500 more CBP agents even though DHS doesn’t meet existing hiring goals because so many applicants fail their polygraph tests. And this is just the beginning. Trump will need billions and billions in more funding to make his executive orders a reality. President Trump’s immigration agenda spells cruel separation of families and communities. Since his election, ICE has detained DREAMers, gone into courthouses to arrest survivors of domestic violence, deported mothers and fathers, and left families stranded oceans apart through his continued Muslim ban. Tell Senate Democrats to say NO to funding Trump’s wall, Deportation Force and detention camps.

  11,168 of 15,000 Signatures

  Created by Mary Small
• ICE and GEO: Stop Retaliation against hunger strikers in Adelanto Detention Center!

  Just after a hunger strike launched by nine detained asylum-seekers in Southern California made headlines across the country on Monday, they were brutally attacked by guards of the private prison company GEO Group (GEO). After they delivered a letter stating their demands to prison staff, GEO guards drenched the #Adelanto9 with pepper spray, beat them, handcuffed them, and transferred them to segregated housing. Some of the strikers were slammed against walls and floors and one was beaten severely enough that a dental crown was knocked out. Afterwards, strike participants reported that guards forced them to shower with hot water, which reacts with the pepper spray to greatly increase the pain, and that they were humiliated and insulted by prison staff. Despite their mistreatment, the #Adelanto9 are still on hunger strike three days later, and a group of 33 women also detained at Adelanto just announced that they, too, have begun a hunger strike! Like the 9 men whose hunger strike began on Monday, the women have demanded: 1. Adequate medical care: Adelanto is infamous for substandard medical care and is now the deadliest detention center of 2017, where three detained immigrants have died so far this year. 2. Treatment with respect: Guards for the private prison company which runs Adelanto, GEO Group, have brutalized hunger strikers and threatened others with assault, but this is just the most extreme form of daily humiliations reported by detained immigrants on a regular basis. Sara Salcido, one of the hunger strikers declares: “We want them to speak to us like we are humans, not animals. We don’t want to be disrespected and cursed at.” 3. Immediate release: Adelanto is currently holding detained immigrants on unreasonably high bonds, in the tens of thousands of dollars, which strikers have called “a humiliating joke” and not so different from the extortion demands that many of the asylum-seekers are fleeing. We call on ICE and GEO to investigate the use of force and threats by guards against hunger strikers, make the findings public, hold the guards as well as their chain of command accountable, and release all 42 hunger strikers immediately SEND A LETTER OF SUPPORT: Send a personal letter of support to the hunger strikers in Adelanto! Include a personal message in the "Comments" box at the top-left of this page (it can be in English or Spanish) and we will deliver your message to the hunger strikers as a letter to let them know they have support from around the country and around the world.

  708 of 800 Signatures

  Created by Mary Small
• #DefundHate: Defund the Detention and Deportation Machine!

  In his 2018 proposed budget, Trump has requested A LOT more money to fund the detention and deportation of immigrants, including: • funds to hire new ICE and Border Patrol agents to terrorize our communities, • more local police to focus on immigration enforcement, • a massive increase in immigrant detention—the equivalent of locking up the entire population of New Orleans over the course of a year, • $1.6 billion to build a southern border wall, and • further border militarization including aircraft and surveillance technology At the same time, the administration is seeking drastic cuts to vital housing, education, nutrition, and health care programs that help communities grow and thrive together, and is threatening to take away programs like DACA and Temporary Protected Status, which would subject hundreds of thousands more people to deportation. Congress is taking action on this budget right now. The bill in the House of Representatives gives Trump almost all of what he asked for, even though ICE and CBP have put the detention and deportation machine on steroids, regularly lie, hide information from the American public, and retaliate against anyone who speaks out. Join us in demanding your Representative and Senators #DefundHate by publicly calling for significant cuts to the detention and deportation machine, and voting NO on any bill which wastes any money on this unaccountable and abusive system.

  1,369 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Mary Small
• #DefundHate NJ

  In his 2018 proposed budget, Trump has requested A LOT more money to fund the detention and deportation of immigrants, including: • funds to hire new ICE and Border Patrol agents to terrorize our communities, • more local police to focus on immigration enforcement, • a massive increase in immigrant detention—the equivalent of locking up the entire population of New Orleans over the course of a year, • $1.6 billion to build a southern border wall, and • further border militarization including aircraft and surveillance technology At the same time, the administration is seeking drastic cuts to vital housing, education, nutrition, and health care programs that help communities grow and thrive together. Trump has also already made the decision to take away DACA, putting at risk hundreds of thousands more to detention and deportation. Congress is taking action on this budget right now. The bill which recently passed the House of Representatives gives Trump almost all of what he asked for, even though ICE and CBP have put the detention and deportation machine on steroids, regularly lie, hide information from the American public, and retaliate against anyone who speaks out. It's now up to the Senate to make sure that Trump does not get the resources to launch his hate-fueled attacks on immigrants. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker is a leading voice in the Senate and advocate for progressive immigration, criminal justice, and education reform. We believe he is in the position to be a progressive champion in opposing the immigration enforcement budget and to influence how much taxpayer money will end up going towards Trump’s anti-immigration agenda. We are asking you to sign this petition in order to tell Senator Booker that his constituents in the state of New Jersey want: 1) For Senator Booker to publicly call for significant cuts to the detention and deportation machine. 2) For Senator Booker to be a voice within the Senate for divesting from the detention and deportation machine and investing in healthcare, education, and housing programs and other vital programs.

  4 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Mary Small
• Say NO to funding Trump's wall, deportation force and detention camps.

  In addition to the wall, Trump wants to vastly expand detention camps to lock up more immigrants including families seeking asylum, put more agents on the border, expand raid operations that will terrorize communities, and re-direct more federal funds toward prosecution of immigration violations. These rubber-stamp convictions are intended to warp the statistics and bolster their hate-fueled propaganda portraying immigrants as criminals. Trump is building out a police state, in part through his Deportation Force, so that any challenges to his dystopian detention and deportation nightmare can be swiftly and forcefully suppressed. Already under Trump, we have seen chaos at our airports and in our communities. That chaos and cruelty would only be magnified if Trump gets his way, but in order to implement these plans, he needs more money. We have the power to say NO. Tell Senate Democrats--especially leadership and members of the Appropriations Committee--to say NO to funding for Trump’s Deportation Force.

  333 of 400 Signatures

  Created by Mary Small
• #DefundHate NJ

  In his 2018 proposed budget, Trump has requested A LOT more money to fund the detention and deportation of immigrants, including: • funds to hire new ICE and Border Patrol agents to terrorize our communities, • more local police to focus on immigration enforcement, • a massive increase in immigrant detention—the equivalent of locking up the entire population of New Orleans over the course of a year, • $1.6 billion to build a southern border wall, and • further border militarization including aircraft and surveillance technology At the same time, the administration is seeking drastic cuts to vital housing, education, nutrition, and health care programs that help communities grow and thrive together. Trump has also already made the decision to take away DACA, putting at risk hundreds of thousands more to detention and deportation. Congress is taking action on this budget right now. The bill which recently passed the House of Representatives gives Trump almost all of what he asked for, even though ICE and CBP have put the detention and deportation machine on steroids, regularly lie, hide information from the American public, and retaliate against anyone who speaks out. It's now up to the Senate to make sure that Trump does not get the resources to launch his hate-fueled attacks on immigrants. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker is a leading voice in the Senate and advocate for progressive immigration, criminal justice, and education reform. We believe he is in the position to be a progressive champion in opposing the immigration enforcement budget and to influence how much taxpayer money will end up going towards Trump’s anti-immigration agenda. We are asking you to sign this petition in order to tell Senator Booker that his constituents in the state of New Jersey want: 1) For Senator Booker to publicly call for significant cuts to the detention and deportation machine. 2) For Senator Booker to be a voice within the Senate for divesting from the detention and deportation machine and investing in healthcare, education, and housing programs and other vital programs.

  75 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Mary Small