DHS Cuts Human Rights Investigative Body - Only migrant unity will end the abuse and attacks!
On May 4th, it was revealed that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will be officially closing the office responsible for investigating abuse and misconduct within immigration detention centers. During its operation, the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman (OIDO) claimed to be "neutral" with the mission of ensuring "safe and humane conditions" in detention but this is far from the case. While ICE and DHS have consistently subjected migrants in detention to all manner of human rights abuses without accountability or serious mechanisms for prevention, the closure of the OIDO blatantly exposes the US State and Trump regime's continued drive to attack migrants while relinquishing even paper pretenses of concern for human rights.
Even during the OIDO's existence, there are countless cases of migrants in detention experiencing on manner of abuse at the hands of the detention system, and there is no such thing as "safe and humane" conditions in detention.
In March, 40 Central American migrant mothers were kidnapped by ICE during their check in at a Baltimore Field Office and subjected to brutal conditions and then transferred to the Northwest Detention Center in Washington, only to experience more abuse, medical violation, and trampling of their rights while ICE worked to cover up these inhumane conditions. These migrant women are now taking on the fight for their freedom and an end to these attacks under the banner Las Madres Unidas en La Lucha alongside community members across the country. Seven of the women were freed from ICE detention this morning after they chose to fight collectively, finding strength in each other to endure abusive conditions during 2 months in detention.
Luis, a Mexican migrant, has been detained in the Adelanto Detention Center in Southern California for over 6 months, subjected to medical violence without access to proper healthcare, served food which has resulted in many in detention becoming sick, and has been prevented from speaking out about the many deaths of migrants detained at Adelanto. Still, Luis alongside his wife and community organizations across Southern California have been fighting for freedom and justice for Luis. Furthermore, Luis has linked up his campaign with that of other migrants detained in Adelanto.
In all of these cases, it has been migrants and migrant workers coming together whether in detention or alongside their communities, fighting for their freedom that has been the most effective in taking on the abusive detention system. The closure of the OIDO will surely make conditions for migrants worse while emboldening ICE, DHS, and the whole detention system as it commits more violence and abuse of migrants - but it reveals the reality that these institutions are not designed to protect the interest of the people. All of this occurs as the UN International Migration Review Forum convenes in New York, serving as a venue for governments to collude and discuss policies that will only result in more migrants being forced from their homelands while being subjected to more exploitation and abuse. The real resolution to rising attacks on migrant communities is for migrants to organize and fight against these fascist attacks and fight to end the very system that forces migrants abroad and subjects them to these conditions in the first place.