Advancing Justice - Atlanta Condemns Reactivation of ICE’s Contract at the Irwin County Detention Center
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta (Advancing Justice-Atlanta) condemns Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) decision to once again detain people at the notoriously abusive Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC) in Ocilla, Georgia. ICDC is a facility known internationally for its numerous severe human rights abuses, including performing non-consensual gynecological procedures and rampant medical neglect in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, advocates with Project South, the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, the South Georgia Immigrant Support Network, Georgia Detention Watch, the Government Accountability Project and others, uncovered the horrific abuses happening at ICDC, which culminated in an extensive investigation by the U.S. Senate. In 2021, after years of advocacy, ICE terminated its contract with ICDC. Now, a mere four years later, ICE intends to reopen ICDC’s doors and detain people once again.
ICE’s decision to reopen ICDC is a troubling indication of the continued expansion of the cruel and dehumanizing deportation and detention machine that continues spreading throughout the country. Reopening ICDC for ICE callously disregards the trauma and mistreatment that those imprisoned at ICDC faced for years before its closure. We remain steadfast in our commitment to the immigrant community here in Georgia, the Southeast, and beyond, and call on ICE to shut down ICDC once and for all. We demand accountability for these systemic rights violations and denounce the continued expansion of systems that terrorize and destabilize our communities.
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