ImmDef Co-Founder and Executive Director Lindsay Toczylowski spoke with Alicia Menendez and Jacob Soboroff on MSNBC about the terrifying treatment of children in the immigration system. Children are being held incommunicado in hotels by government subcontractor staff and shuffled around in the middle of the night, meanwhile their attorneys cannot trace them.
Today is the deadline for ICE to decide to either keep families in cages or rip them apart despite having the power to free them. Though ICE has the power to free families, there is little indication they will. In fact, since Judge Gee ordered the children freed last month, ICE has continued to place more families in the facilities which increases risks of transmission for everyone. In addition, Judge Gee's order says no families will be separated unless the parents "consent." But these parents are in one of the most coercive environments possible. To say they have a choice is a farce. ICE is the only one making a choice to sacrifice children's well-being and safety.
"Judge Gee said these facilities are "on fire" with COVID where these children, toddlers, mothers are being held and the government is pouring lighter fluid on that fire." - ImmDef Executive Director Lindsay Toczylowski.