Statement to the House Judiciary's Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship on "The Expansion and Troubling Use of ICE Detention"

Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC submits this testimony for the record for the public hearing entitled, “The Expansion and Troubling Use of ICE Detention” held on September 26, 2019 by the House Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship in Washington, D.C. 

Immigrant detention should be a last resort, not the norm; however, the Department of Homeland Security continues to increase the number of detained immigrants despite there being adequate, cheaper, and more humane alternatives. The U.S. government should do everything in its power to keep families together and only take away people’s liberty when there is a compelling need to do so. The current immigration detention system only serves to separate families and violate the rights of vulnerable populations including children. Detention centers are not safe and provide inadequate medical care leading to human rights abuses. We urge Congress ​to not let these human rights abuses continue, and to stop the expansion and use of detention centers to criminalize immigrant communities.