FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, 18 November 2014
CONTACT:
Brett Abrams : 516-841-1105 : brett@fitzgibbonmedia.com
Advocates Slam ICE Plans to Open New Family Detention Facility in Dilley TX,
Applaud Closing of Artesia
Statement from Silky Shah, co-director of the Detention Watch Network, on the announcement that ICE plans to transfer women and children currently held at the Artesia Family Detention Center to Dilley in December.
“News that the White House plans to double-down on their failed, inhumane, and alarmingly punitive response to refugee families arriving at the border by opening a new facility to incarcerate families and children in Dilley, Texas is deeply disappointing.
While we have long advocated for the closure of the Artesia Detention Facility, ICE’s decision to transition detained women and children to a new facility in Dilley completely misses the issue at hand. Family detention is an abusive, and inhumane practice that erodes family bonds, and undermines children’s wellbeing.
Additionally troubling is the fact that ICE will contract with the notorious Corrections Corporation of America, a company known for its human rights violations at countless facilities, including the T. Don Hutto Detention Center, which stopped holding families after reports of the appalling treatment and conditions for children in custody.
It is long past time that the Obama Administration abandon the abusive, and inhumane policy of detaining immigrant women and children and that starts with closing Artesia, and cancelling plans for their new 2400-bed facility in Dilley. ”
Earlier this year, the Detention Watch Network released a report that documented the skyrocketing use of family detention in the United States and outlined the specific conditions on-the-ground at the Artesia Family Detention Facility in New Mexico.
For more information, or for interviews, please contact Brett Abrams at 516-841-1105 or by email at brett@fitzgibbonmedia.com.
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The Detention Watch Network works through the collective strength and diversity of its members to expose and challenge the injustices of the U.S. immigration detention and deportation system and advocate for profound change that promotes the rights and dignity of all persons.
