Dear Friends,

On December 3, 122 members of the U.S. House of Representatives joined lead sponsors Rep. Jayapal and Rep. Smith in introducing The Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act. NRCAT is signed on as one of over 75 organizational endorsers of the bill.

Since President Trump took office, immigration detention has risen to epidemic proportions. Over 63,000 immigrants are currently detained, with ICE projecting to increase that number to 107,000 in the near future. U.S. taxpayers are footing the bill to the tune of $45 billion that was allocated to fund immigration detention in this summer’s odious federal budget agreement.

Urge Your Representative to Join as a Cosponsor of the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act.

NRCAT, along with other human rights groups and members of Congress, has worked to expose the deteriorating conditions in facilities where immigrants are being held. Reports of overcrowding, medical neglect, lack of access to clean water, substandard food, and an increase in the use of solitary confinement are being reported by public officials and legal representatives (when they can get in) and by the detainees themselves.

The Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act would repeal mandatory detention, prohibit family detention, phase out the use of private detention facilities over three years, require unannounced inspections of detention facilities, and enforce civil detention standards that would, among other things, severely limit the use of solitary confinement. It has been widely reported that the threat of prolonged solitary is being used to force immigrant detainees to self-deport, to drop complaints of sexual or other abuses, and to refrain from advocating for their basic civil and human rights while detained. 

NRCAT has prepared a sample message you can use to thank your Representative for already being a cosponsor of the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act or ask your Representative to join as a cosponsor– click here and enter your address to write to your Representative.

This is a moral crisis. Members of our communities are having their lives and their families torn apart overnight. Protecting the God-given human dignity of all people is the responsibility of each of us.

Thank you,
The NRCAT Team

P.S. - Thanks to many generous donors on Giving Tuesday, we are well on the way to meeting our $30,000 Challenge Match. Your donation today will help our work to shine light on the abuse and torture taking place in immigration detention.