Right now, tens of thousands of people across the United States are in immigration detention, where rights violations are rampant, and the Trump administration is signaling that it intends to accelerate its detention and deportation campaign. “We came here hoping to find safety,” said 45 men who are detained in a privately owned detention center in Folkston, Georgia in an open letter. “Instead we found ourselves in prison.” Many of the people held in the Folkston facility have been on hunger strike since October 6 to protest their prolonged detention and the violation of their rights.
On October 6, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reportedly raised its arrest goal by 1,000 people each day, following record arrests this summer. In the longer term, public federal procurement documents reveal that ICE plans to scale up its detention capacity by operationalizing a vast network of facilities, transportation, and personnel – almost entirely run by private contractors – and using “mobile detention facilities” to hold individuals after their arrest.
As the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) expands its vast immigration detention system, conditions within detention facilities remain abysmal. Reporters and advocates continue to document harrowing stories of life inside of detention centers, including physical abuse and inadequate food and medical care. Meanwhile, many of the agencies designed to provide oversight over detention conditions have all but collapsed.
Using the tool below, call and email your Members of Congress to urge them to exercise oversight and demand accountability for the Trump administration’s lawless campaign of mass detention and deportation.
EMAIL YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
Using the tool above, you can send an email to your federal elected officials.
Sample email: My name is [insert name], and as your constituent from [City/Town] and a [person of faith/refugee/member of community], I am horrified by the scale and cruelty of the Trump administration’s mass detention and deportation campaign.
With the signing of H.R. 1 in July 2025, Congress appropriated a record-setting $170 billion for immigration enforcement and detention. Less than a year later, in June 2026, Congress gave the administration another $70 billion to support its mass deportation agenda. I urge you to rescind the over $240 billion in congressional funding that is enabling the administration to arrest, detain, and deport members of our communities on an unprecedented scale.
I also urge you to take the following steps to pressure the administration to change course and provide needed oversight into the immigration detention system:
- Speak out about detention conditions and demand the closure of detention facilities: Immigrants – including families and children – are facing harrowing conditions in immigration detention. Inadequate food, limited medical care, and other abuses are rampant. Access to counsel is often extremely restricted, and many people report being coerced into accepting “voluntary departure.”
- Promote rigorous oversight: I urge you to conduct oversight by visiting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities, and administrative buildings where immigrants are being held. Visiting detention facilities is especially crucial because the administration has gutted and defunded many of the offices designed to provide oversight into immigration detention. Congress also can and must prevent future abuses by funding and upholding the oversight functions of the Office of Inspector General (OIG), Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman (OIDO), Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL), and Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman.
- Hold the administration accountable for its overreach: Pass legislative guardrails to prevent harmful ICE practices such as arresting individuals who are attending court hearings or immigration check ins in fulfillment of their legal obligations; deliberately targeting sensitive locations like schools, medical settings, and houses of worship; erasing immigrants with final orders of removal from the detainee locator database; and refouling people to places where they will face danger, including third countries.
- Push back against efforts to further expand detention and deportation: Congress must hold oversight hearings to hold the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accountable for the abuses it has already committed and to investigate its plans for expansion. DHS has stripped hundreds of thousands of people who fled violence and persecution of their legal protections and continues to deliberately target them for arrest, detention, and refoulement to danger – including over 300,000 Haitians who were previously protected by TPS. ICE has reinterpreted longstanding law to massively expand mandatory detention, and many people who have been ordered released from detention remain detained. The Office of Refugee Resettlement is holding unaccompanied children in custody until they age out of the system and then immediately transferring them to ICE custody. DHS recently raised its daily arrest goal, and in the long term, public documents show that ICE intends to expand detention and deportation by operationalizing a network of private contractor-run facilities, transportation, and personnel.
- Secure permanent protections and a path to citizenship: Congress must pursue permanent protections and an attainable path to citizenship so those who are currently at risk of detention and deportation can live safely. Immigrants and refugees make major contributions to our local communities and economies. Evidence demonstrates that the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign has harmed businesses, increased unemployment, and weakened worker protections. A path to citizenship would stabilize jobs and prices across key industries to help communities flourish.
Again, I urge you to investigate and condemn the administration’s campaign to detain and deport immigrants, and to pass a path to citizenship and support legislative guardrails to prevent future abuses. Immigrants are a vital part of my community and I hope you will take steps to prevent the federal government from violating their rights.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
CALL YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
Call your federal elected officials using the tool above.
Sample script: My name is [insert name], and as your constituent from [City/Town] and a [person of faith/refugee/member of community], I am horrified by the scale and cruelty of the Trump administration’s mass detention and deportation efforts.
Across the country, people in immigration detention are facing harrowing conditions, including physical abuse, and inadequate food and medical care. Some are ultimately removed to countries where they have no ties.
I urge you to take steps to pressure the administration to change course and provide needed oversight into the immigration detention system:
- Speak out about detention conditions such as inadequate food and limited medical care.
- Promote rigorous oversight by visiting ICE detention centers and other locations where immigrants are being held. Uphold the critical oversight functions of oversight agencies that the administration has gutted and defunded. Congress can and must restore these crucial oversight entities to prevent further abuses.
- Hold the administration accountable for its lawlessness. Investigate ICE’s practice of arresting individuals who are attending court hearings or immigration check ins in fulfillment of their legal obligations; targeting schools, hospitals and houses of worship for enforcement; erasing detainees with final orders of removal from the detainee locator database; and refouling people to places where they will face danger, including third countries.
- Push back against efforts to further expand detention and deportation. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently raised its daily arrest goal and continues to deliberately target populations who would face extreme risk if deported.
- Secure permanent protections and a path to citizenship: Congress must pursue permanent protections and an attainable path to citizenship for those who are currently at risk of detention and deportation.
Again, I urge you to investigate and condemn the administration’s campaign to detain and deport immigrants, and to pass a path to citizenship and support legislative guardrails to prevent future abuses. Immigrants are a vital part of my community and I hope you will take steps to prevent the federal government from violating their rights.
Thank you.
POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Share this message with your elected officials on social media using the tool above. Sample posts:
@[legislator]: It’s time to hold ICE and CBP accountable for their actions. We must pass meaningful legislative guardrails on ICE and CBP abuses. #ICEOutNow
@[legislator]: People in immigration detention are facing harrowing conditions every day, including inadequate food and a lack of medical care. I urge you to hold the administration accountable for its heinous abuses.
@[legislator]: After a summer of record arrests, ICE is planning to scale up its enforcement efforts, leaving more of our neighbors in immigration detention. It’s past time to hold the administration accountable for terrorizing our communities.
@[legislator]: We are in the midst of one of the largest scale de-documentation campaigns in U.S. history. It’s time for Congress to pass a path to citizenship. #CitizenshipNow
Additional resources:
- TRAC Immigration: Immigration Detention Quick Facts
- Detention Watch Network: Immigration Detention 101
- Human Rights First: “In the Middle of the Night, They Come and Get You”
- Global Detention Project: United States Immigration Detention