On June 16, 2008, the US government will be another step closer to expanding the detention of immigrant families. Over the last two months, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has solicited proposals for the construction of up to three new family detention centers that would hold as many as 600 parents and children.

The Women’s Commission calls on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to immediately halt the alarming growth of family detention. “This is a system that has already been found to be completely inappropriate for families, and we are deeply distressed by this expansion,” said Michelle Brané, director of the detention and asylum program with the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children. “What’s more, it ignores the explicit directive of Congress that ICE release families whenever possible.”