More than 60 community organizations, social service agencies, and legal service providers in Illinois sent a letter to the Biden administration today calling for the release of everyone still in immigration detention in Illinois county jails. The Illinois Way Forward Act, signed into law in August…
This past year presented many hardships, as we continued to brave a global health crisis, fight for racial justice, and witness people seeking safety being turned away at our borders. But there is no doubt that through it all, we saw communities come together to speak out and stand with their…
A new U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) proposal would significantly expand the collection of information from non-citizens in advance of their arrival to the U.S.-Mexico border. CBP is seeking to extend and amend a data collection program at the land border that was established on an…
As U.S. borders reopen for vaccinated tourists, Black, Brown, and Indigenous asylum seekers remain stuck in danger, due to a long history of racist policies designed to exclude migrants and asylum seekers of color. The Biden administration continues to shut out asylum seekers (even when vaccinated…
Justice is a series of small and large victories. As we wind down another calendar year we reflect on the strength, perseverance and heart required in the fight for human rights, especially for immigrants. We celebrate the many ways our community leverages our talents to successfully overcome…
Earlier this year, Gretta sat down to write a letter to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, urging them to reform the immigration system to make it more welcoming and just for people like her. Her main request for the president? To end detention.
Her letter came from a place of…
McHenry and Kankakee Counties in Illinois openly admit to profiting off the detention of immigrants in a recent lawsuit challenging the Illinois Way Forward Act. The legislation — signed this year — forces these counties to terminate their contracts with ICE to detain immigrants in county…
Since entering office, the Biden administration has nearly doubled the number of people locked in U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, extended existing contracts with private prison companies in some communities that have explicitly rejected ICE detention, started a contract…
This summer, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of Justice’s Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) published a joint proposed rule regarding asylum processing; the agencies state their intended goal in issuing the…
Teddy Birhanu lived in the United States as a lawful permanent resident for more than decade before the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deported him to his native Ethiopia because of his mental health. Now back in Ethiopia, Teddy is forced to live inside a church, where he faces prolonged…