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Q about calling for shutdown of individual detention centers posed on the "Should Immigration Detention be Abolished?" panel for @UCLAImmigration #CILP100 much to say on this, first I'll share an article I wrote addressing the tensions in the movement: https://forgeorganizing.org/article/immigrant-justice-movement-should-embrace-abolition
Closing detention centers is essential to the power building work we must do to build towards abolition. If we advocate for some detention centers to stay open because of location or access to counsel, we hurt the longer term goal of closure and abolition.
This was most recently evident in the Hudson County jail contract fight where attorneys advocated for keeping the jail open when there was an opportunity for closure due to the universal rep program there and now the contract exists for an additional 10 years.
Additionally currently much of the system (roughly 30k beds) has quotas baked into their contracts so that if things go back to "normal" there are major incentives to fill those beds. When a facility shuts down there has been evidence to show apprehensions are reduced in the area
If the detention space doesn't exist some people may be transferred, which is why it's so critical to also push for an end to transfers between prisons and jails and detention centers. It's so important for attorneys to advocate for counsel that isn't tied to a specific facility.
People have so much more ability to fight their cases if they are not in detention, this is crucial and rather than posing questions about whether abolition is possible, we need to do everything we can to curb the system and keep the vision of abolition present as we do so.
