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THE ISSUE:

As hundreds of thousands of Americans are protesting the policing of daily life, especially among Black communities and communities of color, immigration policy is moving in a notably dangerous direction. The system criminalizes, incarcerates and deports people — separating families and loved ones forever, and depriving them of their liberty.

Fairness, freedom, opportunity, and respect for human rights should be at the core of our immigration system. But it isn’t set up to uphold these values. Racism is the root of many of our systems in the United States. Designed to strip people of their dignity, the U.S. immigration system racially profiles and targets people based on the color of their skin.

Detention is one aspect of a set of inhumane immigration policies including deportation and the ignoring of laws relating to asylum and due process. The federal government wastes more than $25 billion each year on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to profile, detain and deport immigrants. The mechanisms built to target, detain and deport immigrants are rooted in collaboration with militarized police forces.

ICE detention is the practice of incarcerating people who are immigrants—from those who have just arrived to those who’ve lived in the U.S. for years— while they await a determination of their immigration status or potential deportation. Detention is an integral part of the machinery of deportation.

Here are the relevant facts: In 2019, ICE detained, on average, over 50,000 people each day. As of January 2020, 81 percent of people detained in ICE custody nationwide are held in facilities owned or managed by private prison corporations — a record high. Various reports detail horrifying conditions inside detention facilities: 300 people are being held in cells designed for 150 people with no room to lie down to sleep; people being told to drink out of toilets; many are without access to showers for periods sometimes exceeding 20 days. On October 24th, 2019, ACLU reported that more than 5,400 children have been separated from their families at the Mexico border since July 2017. Adults and children have been suffering and dying in taxpayer funded facilities. Since 2003 there have been over 207 deaths in ICE detention, and this does not include children.

On top of these brutal actualities, there are confirmed cases of COVID-19 within these facilities. Prompt action to release individuals from ICE detention is not only the just and moral course, but the most reasonable health intervention to prevent unnecessary deaths.

In Plain Sight is entering the movement by engaging people in the U.S. to use their social and monetary capital to support organizations working to end inhumane detention. We are highlighting the human costs of militarization and privatization of U.S immigration policy. Using the power of art, activism, and civic engagement, we are bringing together people from these different worlds and different disciplines to act on our moral imperative for justice and equality for immigrants.

SOLIDARITY STATEMENT

The liberation of immigrant and migrant communities and Black communities are deeply bound together. The violence our communities suffer is rooted in white supremacy and colonization. We stand in solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives and their ongoing work for a just and free world.

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