Human Rights Movement Led Coalition For Closure Of ICE Detention Facilities In Arizona

Puente Human Rights Movement led a coalition of civil rights and immigrant advocacy organizations calling for the closure of ICE detention facilities throughout the state during a migration tribunal event on Saturday, Oct. 19 at its headquarters. During the event, the organization released its new report, "Arizona's

Carceral Crisis: The Human Cost of Being Confined," in collaboration with Advancement Project National Office detailing the inhumane conditions inside an ICE detention facility outside of Phoenix.

The event featured testimony from nearly a dozen formerly detained individuals and family members whose loved

ones have died while in ICE facilities or state-run prisons. These individuals joined with advocates in calling on the closure of immigrant detention facilities in the state besides calling for state lawmakers to work to curtail the state's booming mass incarceration system.

Since 2000, Arizona's prison population has grown by 15,000 people, and today has the fourth highest imprisonment rate in the country, according to the report. Black, Latinx, and Native communities are directly and disproportionately impacted by this mass incarceration crisis, and this report highlights this discrepancy outlining policies and laws that are the dragnet into immigration detention. In 2019, Arizona will spend $1.09 billion on

prisons—more than child safety, economic security, and education.