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"We are Deportees, Detainees & Families for Freedom"
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| Families in the Capitol |
In 1996, with the stroke of a pen, then-President Bill Clinton signed two bills that would be remembered notoriously as the 1996 immigration laws. The laws made whole classes of people detainable and deportable. Greencard holders with any contact with the criminal justice system, people fleeing persecution from other countries, undocumented workers earning less than minimum wage, and immigrants detained on secret evidence all became targets of the government, and at risk of permanent exile from the United States. In preparation for deportation, immigrants would be herded off like cattle by Homeland Security (formerly INS) into county jails and prisons around the country, indefinitely. Since 1996, over 1.8 million immigrants have been deported.
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| Popsicle Boat: An immigration detainee made this boat from ice cream sticks while in Louisiana. The boat survived his transfer back to Varick Street Detention Center and was given to a nun. |
Deportation is a mandatory minimum that is tearing our families apart. The government provides no counsel to people facing deportation (exile), and in some areas as many as 90% of immigrant prisoners (detainees) have no attorney. The laws are so cruel that even with a good lawyer, most people will be deported. Deportation is a surprise punishment. New laws and heightened enforcement continue to erode the rights of immigrants.