Why Hasn’t Joe Biden Shut Down the Worst ICE Detention Facilities? May 25, 20212:17 PM
Eli Fernandez, a volunteer for Catholic Charities, speaks to immigrants, most seeking political asylum, who were released from U.S. government detention in McAllen, Texas, on Nov. 3, 2018.
John Moore/Getty Images
On May 13, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas told Congress he would be “taking action very quickly” on immigrant detention centers. Within a week, he ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to cut contracts with two detention centers that have been the targets of extended organizing and community-led shutdown campaigns.
At one of them, the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia, more than 40 predominantly Black or Latina immigrant women came forward last fall with reports of unnecessary, invasive, and nonconsensual gynecological procedures following a whistleblower complaint, leading to investigations by the FBI, Justice Department, and Homeland Secu
Biden will no longer detain migrants at two county jails. That s good but not enough.
Abuse claims aren t limited to two facilities in Massachusetts and Georgia. The feds should review all outside immigration enforcement contracts.
Arizona Republic
The Biden administration will no longer detain immigrants in two county jails in Georgia and Massachusetts amid claims of abuse and neglect.
The move by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas drew praise from immigrant advocates, but they are right when they say this must be the beginning of a broader review of detention centers and agreements with local authorities.
“We have seen time and time again that the immigrant detention apparatus is fundamentally broken,” Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., said in a statement. “Many of these facilities like Irwin are privately owned and have created a perverse profit incentive to keep more immigrants locked up.”
Without a federal mandate to end immigration detention in county jails and private detention centers, advocates continue turn to local and state lawmakers to act.
Biden will no longer detain migrants at two county jails That s good but not enough yahoo.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from yahoo.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
1. Reduce ICE detention capacity.
2 Terminate agreements that help identify criminal aliens.
3. Continue to incentivize illegal immigration. Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim Jordan) May 20, 2021
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to discontinue use of the C. Carlos Carreiro Immigration Detention Center in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts by transferring the remaining detained noncitizens out of the facility and terminating the Intergovernmental Services Agreement with the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) and the 287(g) agreement with the BCSO that is no longer operationally needed.
In a memo to ICE Acting Director Tae Johnson, Secretary Mayorkas stated, “Allow me to state one foundational principle: we will not tolerate the mistreatment of individuals in civil immigration detention or substandard conditions of detention.”