Redress and contest Immigration Detention

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Congress must redress and contest our increasingly inhumane, brutal, and expanding

Immigration Detention System

Tell Congress they must resist and undo the expansion of immigration detention. The disregard for basic humanity must stop; the casual violence and brutality must end. ICE Out! Say our communities.

Congress should prioritize in-person oversight visits of detention centers and holding facilities. They must challenge the mushrooming detention industrial complex at every turn. Empty facilities and vacant beds will be filled.

While some Members of Congress have been working to visit detention centers, we need more to assume a new ethos of investigation, witness, and oversight. Seeing the dangerous and deadly conditions affects their policy thinking and helps keep the public informed.

Email your Representative and Senators. Urge them to oppose any further expansion of immigration detention and to hold facilities accountable. Ask them to conduct in-person oversight visits to ICE detention centers and holding facilities, as well as to any other detention facilities.

Context and Coverage:

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) discovered through FOIA investigations:

The American Immigration Council (AIC) reports that:

The number of people in civil immigration detention has grown from nearly 40,000 to over 70,000—a jump of 75% to the highest number in history.
The administration plans (WaPo) to expand capacity to over 100,000 beds, and could eventually expand the system even further, rivaling the size of the entire federal prison system.
ICE is detaining 3,000 people per day, sweeping our neighbors into detention, and holding them far from home.
ICE has seen a 2,450% increase in the number of people without any criminal record held in detention on any given day, a number that keeps going up.

This massive expansion of immigration enforcement and detention industrial complex has been enabled by a huge multi-year funding allocation for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through OBBBA:

Watchdog organizations and the press have observed:

ICE Wants to Go After Dissenters as well as Immigrants, Brennan Center for Justice, “the federal government now openly says it will use its supercharged spy capabilities to target people who oppose ICE’s actions,” violating the rights of both immigrants and U.S. citizens, and Labeling Renee Good a “Domestic Terrorist” Distorts the Law.
We have seen the highest number (Guardian) of deaths in detention in two decades, including four deaths (The Hill) in just the first two weeks of 2026.

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UU Grounding

As of General Assembly 2024, as Unitarian Universalists, we have agreed to “adopt new language on core religious values.” We agree love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values. The values we share include all the following, which we hold as inseparable and deeply interconnected: Interdependence, Pluralism, Justice, Transformation, Generosity, and Equity. (Read more on the Article II revision process.)

With these agreed core religious values in mind, we also ground our call to preserve easy access to the vote in support of immigration justice in the following Unitarian Universalist Statements:

Protect the Dreamers, the Recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) with a Pathway to Permanent Residence, 2023 Action of Immediate Witness
Undoing Systemic White Supremacy: A Call to Prophetic Action, 2021 Statement of Conscience
Protect the Rights of Immigrants and Asylum Seekers, 2019 Action of Immediate Witness
End Family Separation and Detention of Asylum Seekers and Abolish ICE, 2018 Action of Immediate Witness
Build Solidarity with our Muslim Neighbors, 2016 Action of Immediate Witness
End Immigrant Child and Family Detention Now, 2015 Action of Immediate Witness
Immigration as a Moral Issue, 2013 Statement of Conscience

Congress must redress and contest our increasingly inhumane, brutal, and expanding

Immigration Detention System

Congress must resist and undo the expansion of immigration detention. The disregard for basic humanity must stop; the casual violence and brutality must end. ICE Out! Say our communities. They should prioritize in-person oversight visits of detention centers and holding facilities. They must challenge the mushrooming detention industrial complex at every turn. Empty facilities and vacant beds will be filled.

Members of Congress need to adopt a new ethos of investigation, witness testimony, and oversight.

Email your Representative and Senators. Urge them to oppose any further expansion of immigration detention and to hold facilities accountable. Ask them to conduct in-person oversight visits.

Sign now to send a message to your elected representatives to demonstrate courage in this dire moment. You'll be able to customize your email to Congress on the next screen.

ICE facilities House-Senate

Subject: Our U.S. immigration detention system requires investigation, oversight, and accountability

Message:

I am writing to you as a constituent and person of faith to voice my concern about our expanding U.S. immigration detention system. NGO reports and press coverage indicate that, during 2025: - The number of people in civil immigration detention has increased from nearly 40,000 to over 70,000— a 75 percent increase and the highest level in history. - The administration also has plans to achieve a capacity of over 100,000 beds. This would rival the entire federal prison system. - We are seeing the highest number of deaths in detention in two decades, as protocols, conditions, and facilities fail to be maintained. - About 3,000 people per day, our neighbors, are being taken into detention, including many with no criminal history. - Many detainees are being sent far from their families and homes, divorced from their communities. - Children are being swept into detention with little regard for the long-term impacts on them. I urge you to make in-person oversight visits to detention centers and holding facilities. I ask you to provide robust oversight and challenge the expansion of detention in the U.S. New facilities and bed capacity will be filled, perpetuating inhumane and potentially deadly conditions. This is a poor return on taxpayer investment, in my view. Please oppose further growth of the immigration detention system and hold facilities accountable. Please exercise your authority to conduct in-person oversight visits to ICE detention centers, holding facilities, and related intake sites. Thank you for your attention. I pray you will provide oversight and accountability.

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