FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: [email protected] MIAMI (July 7, 2022) — Following news that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) declined to extend its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention contract with Glades County, the Shut Down Glades Coalition celebrates the following five wins achieved by sustained pressure over the past year and a half in its fight to close Glades …
Letter to DHS: Close Glades County Detention Center
April 20, 2022 The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) U.S. Department of Homeland Security 2707 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE Washington, DC 20528 Re: PETITION Requesting the Administration to Abstain from Renewing Contract with Glades County (Florida) with a Performance Period End Date of April 30, 2022. Dear Secretary Mayorkas, The undersigned Florida …
Amid Abuses and Mounting Community Pressure for Closure, ICE Cancels Key Provision of Detention Contract with Glades County
Following the transfer or release of all remaining individuals under its custody from the Florida detention center, ICE announces end of “guaranteed minimum” agreement FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 25, 2022 Contact: [email protected] MIAMI — This week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) transferred all remaining individuals in its custody out of the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven, Florida, …
Feds will limit use of Glades migrant detention center in Florida after complaints – Miami Herald
By Syra Ortiz-Blanes and Michael Wilner “Lily Hartmann, a human rights advocate at Americans for Immigrant Justice, said her organization applauded the announcement to limit use of the facility. But she also told the Herald that they and other immigrant rights organizations continue to push for the facility’s permanent closure so that no immigrants are detained there in the future. …
‘Lives continue to be in danger’: Lawmakers want FL migrant detention center to close – Miami Herald
By Syra Ortiz-Blanes “A group of 17 members of Congress asked Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday to shutter a Florida detention center that houses migrant detainees and that is at the heart of multiple complaints made to the Biden administration. The Feb. 2 letter points to a slew of recent grievances from immigration advocates and watchdog …
Demands Grow For Investigation Of Anti-Blackness In Florida County Jail
October 25, 2021 Contact: Rebecca Talbot, Immigrant Action Alliance, [email protected], 484-645-3394 Jessica Schneider, Director of AI Justice’s Detention Program, [email protected] A coalition of local and national organizations filed a civil rights complaint today calling for the release of people detained in immigration detention and for an investigation into serious abuses committed against two men detained in the county jail in Glades County, …
Use of Toxic Chemicals Endangering Safety, Reproductive Health of Immigrants in Detention
September 20, 2021 Newly obtained records reveal officials at Florida immigration detention center used industrial-strength chemical at 64 times strength allowed by EPA Contact: Jeff Migliozzi, Freedom for Immigrants, [email protected] Devra Gelman, Americans for Immigrant Justice, [email protected] GLADES COUNTY, Fla. – A disturbing investigative report published in Scientific American reveals that officials at a federal immigration detention center in Glades …
Immigrants in U.S. Detention Exposed to Hazardous Disinfectants Every Day – Scientific American
by Matthew Phelan, Scientific American “Every day crowded cells holding people at an immigration detention facility in Florida have been doused with caustic disinfectants that have caused breathing problems and bleeding, according to reports from the detainees. The disinfectants contain two chemical compounds that scientific research has implicated in long-term damage to human cells and—in animals—to reproductive health. On August …
Women at Florida Immigration Detention Center File Federal Complaint Over Sexual and Medical Abuse, Toxic Chemical Spray, and Racist Treatment
“Seven immigrant women held at a remote immigration detention center in Florida filed a complaint with federal officials, shedding light on an appalling pattern of abuses including sexual abuse by guards and a psychiatrist amounting to violations of the Prison Rape Elimination Acts (PREA), exposure to a highly toxic chemical spray, life-threatening medical neglect, violations of COVID-19 safety protocols, and …
Detention Numbers Must Be Reduced
In recent months, our Detention team has seen a marked change in the number and types of immigrants detained locally and nationwide. In January 2021, the Biden administration inherited a record low number of 14,195 people in immigration detention, in large part due to Trump’s closing of the border following COVID-19. Fast-forward almost 6 months later, and over 27,000 persons have …