Advocacy Groups Urge Biden To Reduce ICE-Run Detention Centers Before Trump Assumes Office

More than 150 migrant advocacy groups have urged President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in a letter to reduce the number of immigration detention centers run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before Donald Trump assumes office.

In the letter, led by the nonprofit Detention Watch Network, 193 groups requested Biden to grant humanitarian parole to detained migrants, who were part of the "particularly vulnerable populations." These included people with physical or mental health conditions, who have been detained while awaiting their immigration court decisions.

Before Trump takes office, migrant advocacy groups want Biden to use his authority to extend protections to certain immigrant groups, such as the Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which could last for 18 months.

The groups also pushed for measures to protect families and avoid separations by limiting the incoming administration's ability to expand detention facilities, the Border Report mentioned.

In the letter, the advocacy groups emphasized the urgency of taking action now to prevent harm to millions of people, while warning against leaving an expanded and inhumane detention and deportation system for the next president.

The letter, sent on Nov. 15, also highlighted reports of "inhumane and abusive conditions" faced by the migrants in detention centers, such as physical abuse, lack of proper food and water, poor medical care and unsanitary conditions.

The groups also called for an immediate stop to ICE expanding its detention network, and demanded that all ongoing contracts with private prison companies and other organizations be frozen. They recommended Biden work with the Congress to reduce funding for immigration detention.

The letter was organizations such as Al Otro Lado, Alianza Americas, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Faith in Action, Freedom Network USA, Hope Border Institute, Human Rights Watch, Immigrant Defense Project, Immigrant Justice Network, Immigration Hub, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, National Immigration Justice Center, United We Dream and Witness at the Border.

Meanwhile, Trump announced last week that he planned to involve the U.S. military in his deportation efforts and intended to declare a national emergency on immigration to support his mass deportation agenda.

Vanessa Cárdenas, from the organization America's Voice, criticized these plans, saying they promoted anti-immigration sentiments and used them as a reason to involve the military in domestic law enforcement, while bypassing standard checks on presidential power.