Women’s Refugee Commission Statement on Family Detention

Over the past week, reports have surfaced that the Trump administration is actively planning to restart the practice of family detention, or detaining immigrant parents with their children in jail-like conditions, often for significant lengths of time. The Women’s Refugee Commission is gravely concerned about the irreparable harm that restarting family detention will cause to parents and children. As the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and even Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s own Advisory Committee on Family Residential Centers has concluded, there is no safe or humane way to incarcerate families. Even short periods of detention cause irreparable harm to children’s physical and mental health.

The Women’s Refugee Commission visited family detention sites in prior administrations and has seen firsthand the trauma, abuse, and impoverished conditions under which these families are detained. We have also traced how family detention prevents migrant families from accessing the processes they are entitled to under law.

Family detention serves no purpose. It does not promote public safety, nor does it protect our national security. It is a practice that causes needless and irreparable harm to families. We call on Congress to provide oversight of the administration’s detention policies and practices and ensure that human and civil rights are respected and all families in our communities are safe. 

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