100 signatures reached
To: Sherburne County Board of Commissioners
Demand constituent input before renewing contract between Sherburne County Jail and ICE!
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Sherburne County in Minnesota has over 300 beds available for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees—more than any other jail in the state. The county is shamefully making money off of a broken immigration system—contracting with ICE to get paid hundreds of dollars for each immigrant detained in the jail. The contract with ICE is up this year. In the past, County Commissioners have allowed the Sheriff to renew the contract without any oversight or input. That’s not how our democracy should work. No single person should have unilateral authority to make a critical determination for Sherburne’s constituents.
We urge you to avoid giving a single person unilateral authority to make a critical determination for Sherburne’s constituents. Sign the petition calling on the Sherburne County Commissioners to thoroughly review the contract and allow for community input.
We urge you to avoid giving a single person unilateral authority to make a critical determination for Sherburne’s constituents. Sign the petition calling on the Sherburne County Commissioners to thoroughly review the contract and allow for community input.
Why is this important?
Sherburne County has been in the inhumane business of profiting off of immigrant detention since the 1990s, striking a deal with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The immigrants jailed in Sherburne County Jail aren’t incarcerated as punishment for a crime, but rather because the federal government plans to deport them. What’s more, the conditions immigrants experience in the jail are abhorrent and inhumane. Immigrants are not allowed to have face-to-face visits with their families or to go outside while in custody, which can last over a year; are sent to solitary confinement as punishment for the most minor infractions; are denied culturally sensitive resources; and, as the American Immigration Lawyers Association reports, are often barred from meeting with their attorneys; and are routinely jailed under these conditions for years.
Sherburne County should not try to profit from failed immigration policies that divide our community and harm our neighbors. Instead, we should let immigrants stay home with their families while they go through the legal process. That’s how we handled immigration throughout most of this country’s history, and that is the right approach for the people of Sherburne County.
The voices of constituents deserve to be heard. Add your name to tell the Sherburne County Board of Commissioners to hold a hearing to discuss the renewal of the contract between the Sherburne County Jail and ICE.
Sherburne County should not try to profit from failed immigration policies that divide our community and harm our neighbors. Instead, we should let immigrants stay home with their families while they go through the legal process. That’s how we handled immigration throughout most of this country’s history, and that is the right approach for the people of Sherburne County.
The voices of constituents deserve to be heard. Add your name to tell the Sherburne County Board of Commissioners to hold a hearing to discuss the renewal of the contract between the Sherburne County Jail and ICE.