Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Release All Detained Immigrants, Shut Down Detention Camps!

Conditions inside US detention camps at the border are a humanitarian crisis.We demand the immediate release of all imprisoned immigrants and the closing of the detention camps.

Facebook Twitter Share
Detained refugees at a U.S. detention center in El Paso. Photo: Sergio Flores/The Washington Post

Every report from inside US immigration detention centers reveals increasingly inhumane conditions for the tens of thousands of individuals imprisoned in overcrowded facilities for crossing the Mexican border into the United States. Hundreds of children sleep on concrete floors and are denied beds, toothbrushes, fresh clothes and adequate food. Detainees are refused fresh drinking water and are told that they can drink from the toilet if they are thirsty. Cells built to hold 35 people cage more than 150. Cases of sexual assault run rampant in most facilities, with 5,800 cases of sexual assault on unaccompanied minors by staff members reported last year alone. The migrants detained in what are rightly being called concentration camps are kept in unlivable conditions. At least 11 migrants have died in US custody since September 2018, not to mention the many more who have died or been killed trying to cross the border.

These horrific conditions did not begin under the Trump administration but have escalated as a result of the targeted attacks on immigrants that have become a hallmark of his presidency. Today, they constitute a humanitarian crisis. Trump’s immigration policies encourage abuse in detention centers, detain more individuals for longer periods of time, and intentionally separate children from their parents. This crisis has provoked a great deal of performative outrage from the Democrats. Party leaderslike Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumerwring their hands and make vague statements about how this is a terrible situation and yet they do nothing to prevent it. Only last week, establishment democrats in the House voted for an additional $4.6 billion for “border aid,” with no strings attached. Democrats justified passing the bill with claims that it would alleviate the dire conditions in detention centers, but the bill provides more funding for the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Patrol with few restrictions on how that money is allocated. Those in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, such as Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, denounce the situation in the strongest terms, but their solutions are supremely insufficient. While their rhetoric may differ, their policy proposals are minimally different from their more conservative counterparts. No one within either bourgeois political party is calling for the refugees to be released. At a moment of unprecedented crisis and immense human suffering, when we need bold action more than ever, self-identified socialists in the Democratic Party are failing to challenge the limits set by capitalist institutions. As far-right politicianslike Trump and his advisor Stephen Millercontinue to set policies on immigration, we need a stronger left opposition to the humanitarian violations of the Trump administration and demands that will actually protect the vulnerable. 

We believe in free mobility for all people, and thus we stand for open borders. We understand Bernie Sanders, AOC and other progressive Democrats do not agree with this; after all, even the most progressive social democratic nation still needs borders on its boundaries. But if we recognize that detention centers are modern day concentration camps, it is only logical to call for the release of all refugees caged in those facilities. Detention camps are the logical conclusion of national borders. You cannot have a kinder, gentler enforcement of border control. Reforms will not fix the essential fact that borders are oppressive. We demand that all the detained immigrants be released immediately and we demand that every camp be closed. Release the immigrants. Close the camps. Open the borders!

Facebook Twitter Share

Madeleine Freeman

Madeleine is a writer and video collaborator for Left Voice. She lives in New York.

Ezra Brain

Ezra is a NYC based theatre artist and teacher.

United States

Federal Charges of Political Activists Show the Racist and Repressive Nature of the Capitalist State

Black nationalist organizations in the United States have been the target of what is a clear, politically motivated attack by the FBI in an attempt to silence voices of dissent against the U.S. government.

Tristan Taylor

May 17, 2023

Biden Agrees with Trump on Immigration

With the end of Title 42, Biden has put in place even more restrictive measures against migrants seeking asylum in the United States. As refugee crises get more extreme, so will the state’s anti-migrant policies.

Sam Carliner

May 12, 2023

Police Violently Repress Protesters while Jordan Neely’s Murderer Walks Free

On Monday, NYPD officers brutalized people gathered at a vigil for Jordan Neely, who was murdered last week in the subway by a vigilante.

Molly Rosenzweig

May 11, 2023
Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old Black man who was murdered on May 2, 2023, wears a Michael Jackson outfit on a subway platform.

Jordan Neely Was Executed for Being Poor, Black, and Disabled

Jordan Neely was strangled to death in the New York subway during a mental health crisis.

Julia Wallace

May 3, 2023

MOST RECENT

Tracking, Deportations, Internment: European Countries Go on the Hunt for Migrants

On May 10, German chancellor Olaf Scholz strengthened Germany’s anti-migrant policy. This means more deportations, border patrol reinforcements, and economic agreements with sending countries. The new policy is being deployed throughout Europe.

Leo Stella

May 25, 2023

#AllthatsLeftPod: Three Years Since the George Floyd Uprising:

In this episode of the podcast, we reflect on the 2020 George Floyd uprising, which began three years ago. We discuss how to turn the energy of a mass uprising into a sustained movement, and the kind of revolutionary leadership that's required to do so.

Left Voice

May 25, 2023

Fight Capitalism, Fight for Neurodivergent Liberation

Neurodivergent and disability liberation will have to come from the overthrow of capitalism and the building of a socialist system which values different forms of human behavior and directs resources to meeting human needs.

Sam Carliner

May 23, 2023
Prof. Gail Green-Anderson of LaGuardia Community College at a rally outside Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s Manhattan office on Thursday.

Rekindling the Militant Spirit of CUNY’s Past

Mayor Eric Adams has announced an austerity budget that includes significant cuts to the City University of New York among other city agencies. In order to defeat these cuts, students, faculty, and other workers across the city must unite our struggles and be prepared to shut the university down.

James Dennis Hoff

May 22, 2023