Testimony to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on “Immigration Detention Centers and Treatment of Immigrants.”

Asian Americans Advancing Justice (Advancing Justice) submitted this testimony for the record for the public briefing “Immigration Detention Centers and Treatment of Immigrants” held on April 12, 2019 by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in Washington, D.C. In the testimony, we state that immigration detention is cruel and unnecessary to enforce our civil immigration laws. We recommend that the administration exercise greater prosecutorial discretion and withhold from arresting and detaining long-time members of our communities and the family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. We also recommend drastic cuts to the detention budgets of ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) within the Department of Homeland Security to reduce the number of detention beds. Instead we urge expanded use of alternatives to detention programs that will help keep our families together.