Pass the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act

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Around 14,000 people are STILL held in U.S. immigration detention. Many are stuck there for weeks, months, even years, without easy access to attorneys and in dangerous, crowded conditions that lack basic hygiene and medical care. Black and brown people, who make up the overwhelming majority of those detained, face added discrimination and other human rights abuses.

Every day immigrants and asylum-seekers remain trapped there is another day their rights are violated and their lives at risk. We have an opportunity to reform the way this system works, and to make freedom the norm:

Congress just introduced the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act which would make detention the exception — not the rule. This transformative legislation would end mandatory detention; eliminate the horrific use of private prison facilities for immigration detention; and protect parents, caregivers, and people who are at-risk from the threat of detention. It would mainstream the use of community-based programs as an alternative to detention and help ensure greater oversight and accountability.

Speak out and call on your members of Congress to champion this bill, and bring our country toward a more just and humane immigration system.

⬇ Make Your Voice Heard ⬇

Dear {contact_data~title} {contact_data~firstName} {contact_data~lastName}:

As your constituent, I write to urge you to support the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act and move it forward for markup and a floor vote.

The Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act sets out a vision and framework for reform, with a dramatic reduction in the use of detention and a shift towards humane and cost-effective strategies that have been demonstrated to work.

The mass detention of immigrants and asylum-seekers is inhumane, poses a danger to the health of individuals and staff in detention, and contravenes the U.S.’s legal and policy commitments with respect to due process, human rights, and racial justice. Black and brown immigrants make up the overwhelming majority of those detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

This punitive system not only violates the U.S.’s legal obligations, including as they pertain to the protection of human rights, it is also unnecessary. Community-based programs, which provide greater access to legal counsel and case management, have been highly successful in providing people with support to navigate their immigration court proceedings. A network of community support for immigrants and asylum-seekers navigating the immigration system already exists and easily can be expanded.

The Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act centers those community support alternatives, while ending mandatory detention, restoring due process, eliminating the use of private prison companies and contracts with local and state jails for immigration detention, and protecting parents, caregivers, and people who are at-risk from the threat of detention. It is a significant step toward building greater oversight and accountability to protect the human rights of immigrants and asylum-seekers.

The time for Congress to act is now. There are approximately 14,000 people in immigration detention: a significant number, but far below ICE’s overall capacity, and the lowest number of individuals in detention in many years.  It is past time to end the horrors of our current system and the harm it inflicts.

I urge you to support the passage of the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act to protect the human rights of immigrants and asylum-seekers.

Sincerely,

{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

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