This August, the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) released nearly 100 immigration detention center contracts, obtained through a four-year Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) battle. The contracts provide an unprecedented look into a failed system that lacks accountability, shields U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from public scrutiny, and allows local governments and private prison companies to brazenly maximize profits at the expense of basic human rights.
“An Advocate’s Guide to Understanding ICE Detention Contracts,” presented by NIJC in partnership with Detention Watch Network and PICO National Network, is the first in a planned series of webinars to examine the FOIA data and provide advocates with a powerful new tool to increase public scrutiny and support advocacy efforts for more accountability in the broken ICE immigration detention system.
Date: Thursday, August 27, 2015
Time: 12 p.m. PDT/2 p.m. CDT/3 p.m. EDT.
Register at immigrantjustice.org/ICEcontractswebinar
(A link to join the webinar will be sent to participants upon registration.)
Agenda:
This webinar will provide an overview of the findings in NIJC’s Immigration Detention Transparency and Human Rights August 2015 Report, offer a primer on how to understand the contracts, and provide insight from advocates already using detention center contracts to hold ICE and its contractors accountable.
Presenters:
- Claudia Valenzuela, NIJC director of detention services and report co-author
- Mary Small, policy director, Detention Watch Network
- Gabby Trejo, Sacramento Area Congregations Together (a member of the PICO National Network)
Moderated by Tara Tidwell Cullen, NIJC director of communications and report co-author