Detention

Recent Features

COMPLAINT
Complaint Urges Investigation Into Misuse of Solitary Confinement in Colorado Immigration Detention Center

We demand an investigation into ICE's use of solitary confinement to punish and control people detained at the Aurora Detention Center in Colorado.

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FACT SHEET
Alternatives to Immigration Detention: An Overview

The United States can and should implement alternatives to detention that serve to reduce the overall detention population.

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FACT SHEET
U.S. Citizen Children Impacted by Immigration Enforcement

Deportations of parents and family members have serious consequences that affect children and extend to communities and the country as a whole.

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All Detention Content

  • Blog

Insider Speaks Out Alongside Formerly Detained Mothers Seeking Protection in the U.S.

July 30, 2015

At a congressional briefing held earlier this week, Dr. Olivia López spoke out about her experiences as a former social worker at the Karnes family detention center alongside formerly detained...

  • Blog

Judge’s Order in Flores Should Signal the End of Family Detention

July 27, 2015

A federal judge issued an order in the Flores case that should go a long way to ending the government’s practice of detaining children and their mothers in unlicensed, secure facilities in Dilley...

  • Blog

Evidence Shows Asylum Seekers Appear for Court with Alternatives to Detention and Legal Assistance

July 22, 2015

When thousands of Central American families fled violence to the United States last year, the Administration responded by opening family detention centers, which are detaining mothers and children...

  • Blog

New Memo on Detained Transgender Immigrants Does Not Go Far Enough

July 6, 2015

U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) will shift its policies regarding transgender adult detainees in its custody according to a memo released last week. While the changes seem positive,...

  • Blog

Why Our Humanitarian Obligations to Children Crossing the Border Still Matter

June 26, 2015

Last summer, the flow of Central Americans seeking refuge in the United States—many of them children—reached its height. One of the government’s first responses to the increased numbers was to...

  • Blog

Members of Congress Report on Texas Family Detention Center Visits

June 24, 2015

Earlier this week, eight Democratic House Members took a trip to Dilley and Karnes, Texas to visit two immigrant family detention facilities and meet with women and children detained there. Dozens...

  • Blog

Immigrants Kept for Days in Border Patrol’s Bedless Holding Cells

June 10, 2015

Every day, over a thousand individuals are held in Border Patrol detention facilities near the U.S. southern border. These facilities are notorious for freezing cold temperatures, overcrowded...

  • Blog

Calls to End Family Detention Come From Capitol Hill

June 2, 2015

Over the past year, the Obama Administration has rapidly propped up family detention facilities as a knee-jerk response to the influx of women and children who crossed our southern border last...

  • Blog

Court Reportedly Set to Order End to Detention of Children in Unlicensed Family Facilities

May 14, 2015

In February, advocates went to court to argue that the government’s family detention centers violate the long-standing Flores v. Reno settlement agreement, which set minimum standards for the...

  • Blog

Two Moms Spend Mother’s Day Traveling to Immigration Family Detention Center

May 13, 2015

By Karen Lucas, Legislative Associate at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and Beth Werlin, Policy Director at the American Immigration Council. On Mother’s Day morning, we said...

  • Press Release

Government Data Reveals the Inner Workings of the U.S. Immigration Detention System

December 5, 2018
A report on immigration detention examines the United States’ complex, sprawling network of facilities used to detain immigrants. The report, “The Landscape of Immigration Detention in the United States,” reveals that detained individuals were commonly held in facilities operated by private entities and located in remote areas, far away from basic community support structures and legal advocacy networks.
  • Special Report

The Landscape of Immigration Detention in the United States

Publication Date: 
December 5, 2018
This analysis reveals that individuals detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were commonly held in privately operated and remotely located facilities, far away from basic community...
  • Blog

The Government Failed to Conduct Background Checks on Staffers at Migrant Child Tent City

November 30, 2018

Thousands of migrant children are currently being held at a tent city in Tornillo, Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border. Most of the children traveled alone in order to flee from violence in their...

  • Blog

Autopsy Report Shows Transgender Immigrant Woman Beaten Before Death in ICE Custody

November 29, 2018

Roxsana Hernández Rodriguez, a 33-year-old transgender woman from Honduras, died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in May, weeks after presenting herself at the San Ysidro...

  • Blog

The Number of Immigrant Children in Detention Just Hit Record Levels – Again

November 19, 2018

After a summer in which almost 3,000 migrant children were separated from their parents at the border, the Trump administration admitted last week that it was holding a record number of children...

  • Blog

Nominee for ICE Director Refuses to Back Down on Family Separation

November 16, 2018

Ronald Vitiello, President Trump’s nominee to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), had a nomination hearing in front of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on...

  • Blog

What’s Next on Flores After Today’s Deadline for Comments

November 6, 2018

As Americans go to the polls, many will also be taking part in another form of government participation—submitting comments on the Trump administration’s proposal to expand family detention for...

  • Advocacy

Regulatory Comments Opposing the Indefinite Detention of Children

November 6, 2018
The Trump administration proposed new regulations undermining the 1997 Flores settlement agreement. If the proposed regulations are finalized, they would weaken protections for children and place them at greater risk of trauma and mistreatment.
  • Blog

Will the Trump Administration Begin Family Separations Again?

October 22, 2018

The horrifying and tragic legacy of the Trump administration’s family separation policy—which allegedly ended by executive order in June this summer—is far from over. Even with many children still...

  • Blog

DHS Secretary Nielsen Makes Laughable Claim That Agency Does Not Detain Children

October 11, 2018

Senators grilled Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen about the Trump administration’s harsh immigration policies, including its practice of detaining migrant children...

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