Media Contact: Rebekah Entralgo, rentralgo@freedomforimmigrants.org

Los Angeles, CA – December 10, 2019 – Today, Freedom for Immigrants (“FFI”) filed a federal lawsuit to reinstate its National Immigration Detention Hotline (the “Hotline”). As the complaint and corresponding motion for preliminary injunction detail, U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) shut down the Hotline in retaliation for FFI’s exercise of First Amendment rights advocating on behalf of persons in immigration detention.

“When operational, our free and confidential Hotline received up to 14,000 calls per month from people in immigration detention who were isolated and suffering serious abuses,” said Christina Fialho, co-executive director of FFI. “ICE shut down our Hotline because we drew attention to the inhumanity of immigration detention. It is only the latest in a long pattern of retaliation against Freedom for Immigrants. Today, we have said no more.”

“ICE’s shutdown of the Hotline violates FFI’s First Amendment rights to speak freely and the rights of detained immigrants to speak with FFI,” explained lead counsel Moez M. Kaba, a partner at Hueston Hennigan. “We filed this lawsuit on behalf of FFI in order to protect these core First Amendment rights, and to reinstate an important lifeline for persons held in immigrant detention.”

In 2013, FFI created a free and confidential Hotline for persons in immigration detention to report abuse, find resources, and bridge the divide between detained persons and their family and loved ones. In 2019, FFI partnered with the popular Netflix show Orange is the New Black (“OITNB”) to help portray the plight of persons detained in ICE facilities and increase public knowledge of the work that organizations like FFI do. Season 7 of OITNB prominently featured the Hotline, and press surrounding the July 2019 season premiere focused on the immigrant-centric storylines and FFI’s work. However, ICE shut down the Hotline within two weeks of the premiere of OITNB Season 7.

“We stand with Freedom for Immigrants in their important work and their efforts to restore the Hotline through this lawsuit,” said Vicci Martinez and Emily Tarver, actors on OITNB, who authored a letter in August on behalf of over 120 organizations and 5 other OITNB actors and producers calling for the restoration of the hotline.

As FFI’s complaint details, the Hotline shutdown is the most recent act in a years-long pattern of retaliatory harassment and interference with FFI’s work. These instances of interference often follow soon after FFI’s public criticism of ICE through the media, protests, or formal complaints filed with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Just last month, ICE suspended an FFI visitation program at the Etowah County Detention Center in Alabama less than 2 days after FFI members and other members of the public engaged in peaceful protest outside the detention facility.

Freedom for Immigrants is represented pro bono by Moez M. Kaba, Rajan Trehan, and Ashley Artmann of Hueston Hennigan LLP.

Read the complaint for injunctive relief here.

About Freedom for Immigrants

Freedom for Immigrants is devoted to abolishing immigration detention, while ending the isolation of people currently suffering in this profit-driven system. We monitor the human rights abuses faced by immigrants detained by ICE through a national hotline and network of volunteer detention visitors, while also modeling a community-based alternative to detention that welcomes immigrants into the social fabric of the United States. Through these windows into the system, we gather data and stories to combat injustice at the individual level and push systemic change. Visit www.freedomforimmigrants.org. Follow @MigrantFreedom