Detention
Louisiana is the site of U.S.’s most “invisible” interior border. Migrants from Africa, Asia, the Americas, and other global refugee crises arrive at the U.S.’s southern border with Mexico to request legal protection as asylum-seekers and are shuttled immediately to jails in Louisiana. More asylum-seekers are detained in Louisiana than in any other state in the nation outside of Texas. This is no accident. Louisiana is the incarceration capital of the world, and many of its cities are built around detention economies that incentivize the detention and deportation of migrants. Migrants in rural Louisiana jails are isolated – far from their families and communities of support in the U.S. as well as the legal representation needed to make their claims.
There are thousands of asylum-seekers in Louisiana, many of whom, without access to counsel, are quickly deported from jail. There is no migrant reception center in Louisiana, and asylum-seekers are not eligible for work permits, housing, food, health, or any government support programs of any kind – including refugee resettlement support. There has been no public, private or nonprofit social service resettlement support for asylum-seekers in the state of Louisiana. This means asylum-seekers at our interior border face two options: Find a way to live with someone they already know, or disappear into exploitative situations full of the protection risks that mimic what they experienced as migrants on their way to the U.S.
Current Detention Statistics Detention Management | ICE
Featured Issue: Immigration Detention (pdf)
Internal Investigators Told ICE To Stop Internal Investigators Told ICE To Stop Sending Immigrants To A Prison In Louisiana Because Of A Culture That Can Lead To Abuse (BuzzFeed News) (pdf)
“7 doors” Stories of Migration and Detention in the U.S. Seven Doors (7doors.org)
People across the country are joining the call to shut down detention centers to protect immigrant family members, friends, coworkers, and neighbors. The Communities Not Cages campaign amplifies the longstanding local organizing of Detention Watch Network (DWN) members, advocates, and allies across the country, while building a nationally coordinated strategy to stop the expansion of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, shut down facilities and ultimately abolish the detention system in its entirety. In 2021, DWN introduced ‘First Ten,’ the next phase of the Communities Not Cages campaign to make a concerted effort to shut down 10 detention facilities immediately.
2024_Guide-Obtaining-Release-Imm-DetentionTab Content
Know Your Rights FAQ Handout
Know someone detained who doesn’t know anyone in the US and may benefit from being in relationship with a visitor, sponsor and/or pen pal?
Referral
Community Resources
Click here to view a GNO area+ Resource Guide focused on immigrant needs.
Freedom for Immigrants created the Family Support Hotline to assist families, advocates, and attorneys on the outside who have loved ones or clients inside the U.S. immigration detention system.
Parole/Bond Fact Sheet (pdf)
Parole/Bond Document Collection Handout
Bridging
Glossary of Terms
In Community With
