Federal Court Affirms What Advocates Have Said For Nearly A Year: Children Held In Open Air Detention Sites Are In Customs and Border Protection’s Custody
SOUTHERN BORDER - In a significant victory yesterday, a court decision affirmed that children held in Open Air Detention Sites (OADS) are indeed under the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). This ruling comes on the heels of nearly a year of documentation and multiple administrative complaints filed by the Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC) and its partners with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) concerning the dire conditions migrants face while detained at these sites.
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More than 125 Border and National Organizations Demand Biden Administration Refuse Support for Texas’ Operation Lone Star and Reject SB 602 Agreements
Media Contact: Mallory Adamski - [email protected] - Mobile/text: (619) 571-1610
TEXAS – On the eve of President Biden’s visit to the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, 128 advocacy organizations from across the southern border region and the country issued a joint letter today demanding President Biden and Department of Homeland Security Secretary (DHS) Mayorkas refuse to sign any agreements with the state under TX SB 602, new Operation Lone Star legislation now in effect allowing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to enforce Texas state criminal laws at Border Patrol checkpoints and Ports of Entry.
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SBCC Urges Congress to Reject Supplemental Funding Package that Threatens the Right to Asylum and Harms Border and Immigrant Communities
Media Contact: Tara Kaveh - [email protected] - Mobile/text: (415) 686-2692
SOUTHERN BORDER - Following weeks of closed-door negotiations, a small group of Senators yesterday released a supplemental spending bill that contains harmful immigration, asylum and border-related provisions that would gut our asylum system, give dangerous powers to current and future administrations to close our border to those seeking safety, and continues the deadly legacy of deterrence and border militarization.
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Immigrant Rights Groups Demand Accountability for 'Gross Violations of Human Rights' at Open-Air Detention Sites at U.S.-Mexico Border
Jacumba, CA – Seven immigrant rights organizations lodged an urgent federal complaint this week against the Department of Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) and its Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for violating their own custody standards for asylum seekers being held in several open-air detention sites along the U.S.-Mexico border in California. For several months, Border Patrol officers have forced asylum seekers to wait outdoors for several hours or days between sections of the San Diego border walls and other open-air sites in the Jacumba desert where they aren’t allowed to leave and don’t have adequate access to water, food, sanitation, medical care, or protection from the elements.
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SBCC Condemns Extreme Anti-Immigrant Texas Bills That Violate Human Rights and International Obligations
Texas – This week, the Texas Legislature passed SB 4, an unconstitutional and inhumane attempt by Texas to seize the federal immigration power for itself. This bill targets border communities from El Paso to the Rio Grande Valley and will unleash devastating racial discrimination and abuse that will harm Black and brown residents and newcomers the most.
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U.N. Special Rapporteur on Racism Calls Out Discriminatory, Abusive, and Unaccountable Law Enforcement in the U.S., Echoing Testimony and Reports of the Dignity Delegation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, November 16, 2023
Media Contacts:
Mallory Adamski, [email protected], Mobile/text: (619) 571-1610
Felipe Morales, [email protected], Mobile/text: +52-555431-0851
U.N. Special Rapporteur on Racism Calls Out Discriminatory, Abusive, and Unaccountable Law Enforcement in the U.S., Echoing Testimony and Reports of the Dignity Delegation
This marks the third UN body in 3 months calling on the U.S. to end racial profiling, change its use of force standard for law enforcement, and end impunity to conform to international treaties.
SOUTHERN BORDER – Representatives of the Dignity Delegation lauded the release of a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Racism that bears witness to discriminatory, abusive and unaccountable law enforcement in the United States. The report follows a country visit this month by Special Rapporteur Ashwini K.P., who met with government officials and civil society, including members of the Dignity Delegation, who shared their lived experience and reports prepared by Alliance San Diego, Southern Border Communities Coalition, and the Berkeley International Human Rights Law Clinic.
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U.N. Human Rights Committee Calls Out U.S. Law Enforcement for Racial Profiling, Excessive Force and Impunity, which Fail to Comply with Treaty Obligations
Dignity Delegation calls for accountability for rights violations and calls for changes to federal and state laws
GENEVA, Switzerland — Today, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) issued its concluding observations after reviewing the United States' compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a treaty signed and ratified by the U.S. more than thirty years ago. Across multiple issues, the HRC concluded that the U.S. is not in compliance and raised particular concerns about racial profiling, excessive force, and impunity by U.S. law enforcement.
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SBCC Statement on Día de los Muertos
Southern Border — Today on Día de los Muertos, the Southern Border Communities Coalition remembers the more than 280 lives lost by fatal encounters with U.S. border agents including the 20 lives lost in 2023 alone. As we remember the victims of the culture of violence and impunity within the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), we denounce the increase of use of force incidents resulting from the biggest law enforcement agency in the country.
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SBCC Statement on President Biden Denying Border Communities Equal Protection Under the Law
Southern Border — Despite President Biden’s statement today regarding the use of waiver authority to build more border wall, the Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC) maintains its position that border communities have the human right to equal protection under the law. Yesterday, the Biden administration announced that it will waive 26 federal public health, environmental and cultural preservation laws to expedite border wall construction in Starr County, Texas. The use of this waiver authority to ignore federal, state, environmental and tribal laws to enable border wall construction has created devastating harm.
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Actions Across 15+ Cities Demand President Biden Shut Down Detention Centers, Release All People in Immigration Detention, and End Deportations!
For Immediate Release
Friday, September 15, 2023
Contact: Jenny Garcia, Detention Watch Network, [email protected]
Washington, DC — Today, advocates gathered in 15+ cities, including in Washington, DC as part of a national day of action demanding the Biden administration shut down all detention centers, release all people in detention, and end deportations. Partners in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia region used this opportunity to call on President Biden to shut down the ICA operated Farmville detention center, one of two remaining detention centers in Virginia, whose contract was set to expire on the same day.
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