Detention Watch Network
@detentionwatchnetwork.org
A national coalition building power through collective advocacy, grassroots organizing, & strategic communications to abolish immigration detention in the U.S. #FreeThemAll #AbolishDetention
Trump’s increasing use of military bases, funding, and personnel - now including the US Navy - for the targeting, detention, and deportation of people is beyond the scope and scale of any immigration enforcement plans we’ve seen before, setting a dangerous precedent.
Looking to speed up building network of migrant detention centers, Trump administration turns to the US Navy | CNN Politics
The Department of Homeland Security is funneling $10 billion through the Navy to help facilitate the construction of a sprawling network of migrant detention centers across the US in an arrangement ai...
www.cnn.com
October 28, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Trump’s increasing use of military bases, funding, and personnel - now including the US Navy - for the targeting, detention, and deportation of people is beyond the scope and scale of any immigration enforcement plans we’ve seen before, setting a dangerous precedent.
Save the date November 1-2! Join DWN, our members and partners across the country in honoring lives lost to immigration detention. Immigration detention is deadly and inherently inhumane. #DeadlyDetention @ndlon.bsky.social
🔗Go to www.disappearedinamerica.us to host and action or vigil.
🔗Go to www.disappearedinamerica.us to host and action or vigil.
October 27, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Save the date November 1-2! Join DWN, our members and partners across the country in honoring lives lost to immigration detention. Immigration detention is deadly and inherently inhumane. #DeadlyDetention @ndlon.bsky.social
🔗Go to www.disappearedinamerica.us to host and action or vigil.
🔗Go to www.disappearedinamerica.us to host and action or vigil.
ICE purposefully obscures the truth — full stop. For the nearly 60,000 people in ICE custody, every measure of oversight is crucial because lives are in jeopardy. This decision once again illustrates how no one is safe in ICE custody. #communitiesnotcages
ICE closes detention oversight group in shutdown despite surge in detainees
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s entire Office of Detention Oversight has been placed on furlough, despite surging numbers of detainees.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 7, 2025 at 10:37 PM
ICE purposefully obscures the truth — full stop. For the nearly 60,000 people in ICE custody, every measure of oversight is crucial because lives are in jeopardy. This decision once again illustrates how no one is safe in ICE custody. #communitiesnotcages
We’re enraged and heartbroken by the rising deaths in ICE custody. Huabing Xie, from China, died Sept 29 after being held at Imperial Regional Detention Facility. At least 20 people have died since Trump took office as he moves to triple ICE detention by the end of this year. #CommunitiesNotCages
October 7, 2025 at 8:31 PM
We’re enraged and heartbroken by the rising deaths in ICE custody. Huabing Xie, from China, died Sept 29 after being held at Imperial Regional Detention Facility. At least 20 people have died since Trump took office as he moves to triple ICE detention by the end of this year. #CommunitiesNotCages
ICYMI: Join us this Tuesday! 💻WEBINAR 10/7: From El Salvador to the US: Resisting mass detention and right-wing authoritarianism. 🔗REGISTER: bit.ly/cncoct7
October 6, 2025 at 9:11 PM
ICYMI: Join us this Tuesday! 💻WEBINAR 10/7: From El Salvador to the US: Resisting mass detention and right-wing authoritarianism. 🔗REGISTER: bit.ly/cncoct7
Reposted by Detention Watch Network
💻WEBINAR 10/7: From El Salvador to the US: Resisting mass detention and right-wing authoritarianism. The transfers of immigrants to offshore detention in El Salvador brought increased awareness of the torture and abuse in El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison. Now what? 🔗REGISTER: bit.ly/cncoct7
October 1, 2025 at 9:42 PM
💻WEBINAR 10/7: From El Salvador to the US: Resisting mass detention and right-wing authoritarianism. The transfers of immigrants to offshore detention in El Salvador brought increased awareness of the torture and abuse in El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison. Now what? 🔗REGISTER: bit.ly/cncoct7
💻WEBINAR 10/7: From El Salvador to the US: Resisting mass detention and right-wing authoritarianism. The transfers of immigrants to offshore detention in El Salvador brought increased awareness of the torture and abuse in El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison. Now what? 🔗REGISTER: bit.ly/cncoct7
October 1, 2025 at 9:42 PM
💻WEBINAR 10/7: From El Salvador to the US: Resisting mass detention and right-wing authoritarianism. The transfers of immigrants to offshore detention in El Salvador brought increased awareness of the torture and abuse in El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison. Now what? 🔗REGISTER: bit.ly/cncoct7
Reposted by Detention Watch Network
On Tuesday, Oct. 7, @detentionwatchnetwork.org is hosting a virtual event to help folks in the U.S. learn how movements in El Salvador are fighting against authoritarianism and dictatorship. Registration link and more details can be found here: detentionwatchnetwork.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/d...
El Salvador & US: People's Resistance | Resistencia del Pueblo
El Salvador: Resistance to fascism, detention & US imperialism
detentionwatchnetwork.app.neoncrm.com
October 1, 2025 at 10:26 AM
On Tuesday, Oct. 7, @detentionwatchnetwork.org is hosting a virtual event to help folks in the U.S. learn how movements in El Salvador are fighting against authoritarianism and dictatorship. Registration link and more details can be found here: detentionwatchnetwork.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/d...
📢 Take action! 📢 As the House and Senate continue to work on 12 spending bills for fiscal year 2026 both chambers are planning to increase funding for ICE adding onto the $45 billion ICE just received in the reconciliation bill.
NO MORE money for Trump's cruel plans.
Act now: bit.ly/noicefunding
NO MORE money for Trump's cruel plans.
Act now: bit.ly/noicefunding
Urge Senators and Members to Reject ICE Funding and Invest in Communities
We need you to take action NOW! On September 30th, the House and Senate will be reaching their government funding deadline. Given the short timeline and disagreements between the two political parties...
bit.ly
September 30, 2025 at 6:43 PM
📢 Take action! 📢 As the House and Senate continue to work on 12 spending bills for fiscal year 2026 both chambers are planning to increase funding for ICE adding onto the $45 billion ICE just received in the reconciliation bill.
NO MORE money for Trump's cruel plans.
Act now: bit.ly/noicefunding
NO MORE money for Trump's cruel plans.
Act now: bit.ly/noicefunding
In a time of increasing repression, the fight for justice, peace, and dignity for all is crucial.
On October 9, @detentionwatchnetwork.org is excited to accept the @ips-dc.org Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award.
🎟️ Join us in celebrating! Get tickets now: ips-dc.org/event/lm49/
On October 9, @detentionwatchnetwork.org is excited to accept the @ips-dc.org Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award.
🎟️ Join us in celebrating! Get tickets now: ips-dc.org/event/lm49/
September 29, 2025 at 6:40 PM
In a time of increasing repression, the fight for justice, peace, and dignity for all is crucial.
On October 9, @detentionwatchnetwork.org is excited to accept the @ips-dc.org Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award.
🎟️ Join us in celebrating! Get tickets now: ips-dc.org/event/lm49/
On October 9, @detentionwatchnetwork.org is excited to accept the @ips-dc.org Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award.
🎟️ Join us in celebrating! Get tickets now: ips-dc.org/event/lm49/
Reposted by Detention Watch Network
📘BOOK LAUNCH📘
Authors @nancyhiemstra.bsky.social and @drdconlon.bsky.social discuss their book, Immigration Detention Inc. with Setareh Gandehari of the @detentionwatchnetwork.org
🗓️Fri, Oct 3
⏰6 pm
📍@peoplesbooktakoma.com
peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/immigr...
Authors @nancyhiemstra.bsky.social and @drdconlon.bsky.social discuss their book, Immigration Detention Inc. with Setareh Gandehari of the @detentionwatchnetwork.org
🗓️Fri, Oct 3
⏰6 pm
📍@peoplesbooktakoma.com
peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/immigr...
Immigration Detention Panel
The United States has the most extensive immigration detention system in the world, expanding from a capacity of less than 5,000 detainees per day in the 1980s to 52,000 by 2019. While the most voc…
peoplesbooktakoma.com
September 20, 2025 at 12:58 PM
📘BOOK LAUNCH📘
Authors @nancyhiemstra.bsky.social and @drdconlon.bsky.social discuss their book, Immigration Detention Inc. with Setareh Gandehari of the @detentionwatchnetwork.org
🗓️Fri, Oct 3
⏰6 pm
📍@peoplesbooktakoma.com
peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/immigr...
Authors @nancyhiemstra.bsky.social and @drdconlon.bsky.social discuss their book, Immigration Detention Inc. with Setareh Gandehari of the @detentionwatchnetwork.org
🗓️Fri, Oct 3
⏰6 pm
📍@peoplesbooktakoma.com
peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/immigr...
Reposted by Detention Watch Network
📘BOOK LAUNCH📘
Authors @nancyhiemstra.bsky.social and @drdconlon.bsky.social discuss their book, Immigration Detention Inc. with Setareh Gandehari of the @detentionwatchnetwork.org
🗓️Fri, Oct 3
⏰6 pm
📍@peoplesbooktakoma.com
peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/immigr...
Authors @nancyhiemstra.bsky.social and @drdconlon.bsky.social discuss their book, Immigration Detention Inc. with Setareh Gandehari of the @detentionwatchnetwork.org
🗓️Fri, Oct 3
⏰6 pm
📍@peoplesbooktakoma.com
peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/immigr...
Immigration Detention Panel
The United States has the most extensive immigration detention system in the world, expanding from a capacity of less than 5,000 detainees per day in the 1980s to 52,000 by 2019. While the most voc…
peoplesbooktakoma.com
September 17, 2025 at 12:58 PM
📘BOOK LAUNCH📘
Authors @nancyhiemstra.bsky.social and @drdconlon.bsky.social discuss their book, Immigration Detention Inc. with Setareh Gandehari of the @detentionwatchnetwork.org
🗓️Fri, Oct 3
⏰6 pm
📍@peoplesbooktakoma.com
peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/immigr...
Authors @nancyhiemstra.bsky.social and @drdconlon.bsky.social discuss their book, Immigration Detention Inc. with Setareh Gandehari of the @detentionwatchnetwork.org
🗓️Fri, Oct 3
⏰6 pm
📍@peoplesbooktakoma.com
peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/immigr...
Trump’s cruel mass detention and deportation agenda has reached a previously unimaginable deadly scope and scale. The human toll and cost to all Americans continues to be shocking.
Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez: the third casualty of Trump’s mass deportation operation : Peoples Dispatch
Outrage grows as ICE raids under “Operation Midway Blitz” turn violent, highlighting deadly pattern in immigration enforcement
peoplesdispatch.org
September 16, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Trump’s cruel mass detention and deportation agenda has reached a previously unimaginable deadly scope and scale. The human toll and cost to all Americans continues to be shocking.
“We have the largest jail infrastructure in the world, and it’s an easy thing for ICE to fall back on,” said @silkys13.bsky.social, the executive director of @detentionwatchnetwork.org, to @nytimes.com. “The jail is a really central component of the deportation machine.”
Local Sheriffs Are Turning Their Jails Into ICE Detention Centers
Jails play a growing role in immigrant detention, housing thousands of people who have never been convicted of a crime.
www.nytimes.com
September 11, 2025 at 7:15 PM
“We have the largest jail infrastructure in the world, and it’s an easy thing for ICE to fall back on,” said @silkys13.bsky.social, the executive director of @detentionwatchnetwork.org, to @nytimes.com. “The jail is a really central component of the deportation machine.”
Another life lost to immigration detention: Last month Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, 32, died while in ICE custody on August 31 in AZ. ICE had detained Mr. Batrez Vargas at Central Arizona Correctional Complex in Florence, AZ and has reported that the cause of his death is currently known.
Cruel and Deadly: Another Life Tragically Lost to Immigration Detention
Florence, AZ — The Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project and Detention Watch Network are mourning the tragic loss of Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, 32, affectionately known as "Lenchito,” a be...
www.detentionwatchnetwork.org
September 9, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Another life lost to immigration detention: Last month Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, 32, died while in ICE custody on August 31 in AZ. ICE had detained Mr. Batrez Vargas at Central Arizona Correctional Complex in Florence, AZ and has reported that the cause of his death is currently known.
Reposted by Detention Watch Network
In ONE MONTH, join us in celebrating resistance to repression at the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards!
Celebrate this year's awardees:
🏅 @detentionwatchnetwork.org & Jeanette Vizguerra
🏅 The National Coordinating Roundtable of Organizations of Retirees and Pensioners of Argentina
🎟️ TICKETS:
Celebrate this year's awardees:
🏅 @detentionwatchnetwork.org & Jeanette Vizguerra
🏅 The National Coordinating Roundtable of Organizations of Retirees and Pensioners of Argentina
🎟️ TICKETS:
Letelier-Moffitt Awards 2025 - Institute for Policy Studies
Join us this year as IPS honors two outstanding champions of human rights and celebrates the work we do along with our allies to advance justice, peace, and dignity for all.
ips-dc.org
September 9, 2025 at 2:17 PM
In ONE MONTH, join us in celebrating resistance to repression at the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards!
Celebrate this year's awardees:
🏅 @detentionwatchnetwork.org & Jeanette Vizguerra
🏅 The National Coordinating Roundtable of Organizations of Retirees and Pensioners of Argentina
🎟️ TICKETS:
Celebrate this year's awardees:
🏅 @detentionwatchnetwork.org & Jeanette Vizguerra
🏅 The National Coordinating Roundtable of Organizations of Retirees and Pensioners of Argentina
🎟️ TICKETS:
📣We need all hands-on deck to protect our communities!
Calling all content creators who want to use their platform to support and uplift immigrant communities, join us! 9/18 at 3pm PT @the-ilrc.bsky.social @conmijente.bsky.social @immjustice.bsky.social
🔗RSVP here: Bit.ly/content-creator-meetup
Calling all content creators who want to use their platform to support and uplift immigrant communities, join us! 9/18 at 3pm PT @the-ilrc.bsky.social @conmijente.bsky.social @immjustice.bsky.social
🔗RSVP here: Bit.ly/content-creator-meetup
September 4, 2025 at 6:10 PM
📣We need all hands-on deck to protect our communities!
Calling all content creators who want to use their platform to support and uplift immigrant communities, join us! 9/18 at 3pm PT @the-ilrc.bsky.social @conmijente.bsky.social @immjustice.bsky.social
🔗RSVP here: Bit.ly/content-creator-meetup
Calling all content creators who want to use their platform to support and uplift immigrant communities, join us! 9/18 at 3pm PT @the-ilrc.bsky.social @conmijente.bsky.social @immjustice.bsky.social
🔗RSVP here: Bit.ly/content-creator-meetup
Reposted by Detention Watch Network
The SECOND trend, is that prisons that were closed because of criminal justice reforms, are now being raised from the dead. Some of these "zombie" facilities were closed because of long-standing problems, but now they will hold immigrants www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/29/m... (8/)
‘Zombie Prisons’: How ICE Detention Is Raising Troubling Facilities From the Dead
ICE needs more detention space, and it’s faster to open old facilities than to build new ones.
www.themarshallproject.org
September 4, 2025 at 1:57 PM
The SECOND trend, is that prisons that were closed because of criminal justice reforms, are now being raised from the dead. Some of these "zombie" facilities were closed because of long-standing problems, but now they will hold immigrants www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/29/m... (8/)
Reposted by Detention Watch Network
FIRST: State governments are getting involved in running their own detention facilities. They've never been involved in detention on this scale before. Many places, like Louisiana, are using space in their state prisons for this detention.... (2/)
www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/22/f...
www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/22/f...
What Alligator Alcatraz Portends for State Prisons
Plans to use Indiana’s “Speedway Slammer,” Louisiana’s Angola and other state prisons to house ICE detainees raise problematic questions, attorneys say.
www.themarshallproject.org
September 4, 2025 at 1:57 PM
FIRST: State governments are getting involved in running their own detention facilities. They've never been involved in detention on this scale before. Many places, like Louisiana, are using space in their state prisons for this detention.... (2/)
www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/22/f...
www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/22/f...
Reposted by Detention Watch Network
It's now official, ICE is opening a detention center in the notorious Angola prison. This is part of a larger trend: The U.S. carceral system becoming increasingly entangled with immigration detention. Here are two big things I am tracking about this trend, and why it matters.... (1/)
September 4, 2025 at 1:57 PM
It's now official, ICE is opening a detention center in the notorious Angola prison. This is part of a larger trend: The U.S. carceral system becoming increasingly entangled with immigration detention. Here are two big things I am tracking about this trend, and why it matters.... (1/)
Reposted by Detention Watch Network
Setareh Ghandehari of @detentionwatchnetwork.org said zombie facilities show why you need to close facilities, not just to remove certain populations. Facilities once used for people convicted of crimes are now being used for immigrants. And they could be repurposed, again, for other populations.
September 2, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Setareh Ghandehari of @detentionwatchnetwork.org said zombie facilities show why you need to close facilities, not just to remove certain populations. Facilities once used for people convicted of crimes are now being used for immigrants. And they could be repurposed, again, for other populations.
Reposted by Detention Watch Network
The ACLU's @eunicehcho.bsky.social said said private companies & local economies have financial incentives to keep filling cells they already spent money creating. We see that in how empty prisons are being reused by ICE: “How can we imagine ways to actually shutter these facilities for good?”
September 2, 2025 at 4:18 PM
The ACLU's @eunicehcho.bsky.social said said private companies & local economies have financial incentives to keep filling cells they already spent money creating. We see that in how empty prisons are being reused by ICE: “How can we imagine ways to actually shutter these facilities for good?”
Reposted by Detention Watch Network
ICE wants more detention space and it’s faster to re-open old facilities to hold immigrants than to build new ones. Enter: ZOMBIE PRISONS
www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/29/m...
www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/29/m...
‘Zombie Prisons’: How ICE Detention Is Raising Troubling Facilities From the Dead
ICE needs more detention space, and it’s faster to open old facilities than to build new ones.
www.themarshallproject.org
September 2, 2025 at 3:19 PM
ICE wants more detention space and it’s faster to re-open old facilities to hold immigrants than to build new ones. Enter: ZOMBIE PRISONS
www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/29/m...
www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/29/m...
Trump’s unprecedented agenda is unmistakably authoritarian.
The deployment of the National Guard in Washington DC and in 20 states, including Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Texas and Louisiana, is an alarming unilateral move that is supercharging the already massive police presence in communities.
The deployment of the National Guard in Washington DC and in 20 states, including Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Texas and Louisiana, is an alarming unilateral move that is supercharging the already massive police presence in communities.
The escalating use of the National Guard and military for immigration enforcement is yet another marker of an authoritarian regime
Washington, DC — In response to news that the Trump administration is deploying the National Guard to assist in processing people for immigration detention in 20 states, Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy D...
www.detentionwatchnetwork.org
August 28, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Trump’s unprecedented agenda is unmistakably authoritarian.
The deployment of the National Guard in Washington DC and in 20 states, including Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Texas and Louisiana, is an alarming unilateral move that is supercharging the already massive police presence in communities.
The deployment of the National Guard in Washington DC and in 20 states, including Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Texas and Louisiana, is an alarming unilateral move that is supercharging the already massive police presence in communities.
Reposted by Detention Watch Network
Join and support @detentionwatchnetwork.org's #CommunitiesNotCages campaign, which amplifies local community organizing, demands the closure of ICE detention facilities, and fights to shrink the detention system.
#CommunitiesNotCages
Right now, the United States is experiencing unprecedented expansion of the immigration detention system. People are uniting to protect immigrant family members, friends, coworkers, and neighbors by c...
www.detentionwatchnetwork.org
August 27, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Join and support @detentionwatchnetwork.org's #CommunitiesNotCages campaign, which amplifies local community organizing, demands the closure of ICE detention facilities, and fights to shrink the detention system.