Human rights advocates see the Biden administration’s expansion of detention-reliant immigration enforcement as a betrayal, guided by political headwinds rather than operational necessities.
In a letter to President Biden delivered Thursday, 200 organizations voiced “outrage over your administration’s expansion of the cruel and unnecessary immigration detention system.”
The groups, most of them longtime opponents of the practice of immigration detention, are incensed over skyrocketing detention spending, with 3.4 billion destined to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE detention bed space in the 1.2 trillion federal spending package Biden signed in March.
“Our organizations work with and advocate on behalf of people who have experienced immigration detention. They carry life long scars from the mistreatment and dehumanization they endured because of the United States’ reliance on detention, mostly through private prisons and county jails. Your administration is further entrenching this reliance, marking an utter betrayal of your campaign promises,” wrote the groups.
“The system your administration is expanding is riddled with abuse and impunity.
Your senior officials have been aware of these significant human rights concerns since day one. ICE’s jails and prisons operate under insufficient standards with inspections that are notorious for covering up deficiencies,” wrote the groups, which include Amnesty International USA, the National Immigrant Justice Center, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and the International Refugee Assistance Project.
“Inadequate medical care results in deaths basic sanitation is often lacking Black immigrants face unaffordable bonds and violence at disparately high rates and ICE’s use of solitary confinement regularly meets the United Nations’ definition of torture.”
When Biden came into office, detention was at a historic low, in large part due to decreased immigration and enforcement during the pandemic.
“In an abrupt change of course, over the last two years, ICE has instead increased the number of people in custody. Most of the facilities on ICE’s internal closure list remain open, despite numerous reports from advocates and service providers further documenting the ineffectiveness of detention and the need for a different approach,” they wrote.