IDC statement on the US expansion of immigration detention, family separation, deaths in custody and the urgent need for humane, effective alternatives

International Detention Coalition (IDC) is increasingly concerned about developments in United States immigration enforcement and detention, along with associated human rights violations. These developments raise serious questions about broader safeguards around human rights, dignity and justice.

We are seeing a marked increase in the visibility, scope and intensity of immigration enforcement, detention and externalisation measures. This includes the expansion of detention capacity and infrastructure, the increase of funding for detention, the use of bilateral agreements for deportation to third countries, the use of military-style infrastructure and tactics, the detention of children and families, and the framing of migrants as a security threat rather than as human beings with inherent rights and dignity.

Immigration detention is increasingly being exploited as a tool of deterrence and political theatre, when what we need is evidence-based policy responses.

The latest warning from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, calling for urgent preventive action after deaths in ICE custody, reinforces the need for a decisive shift away from detention-led enforcement and towards rights-based, community-based alternatives.

IDC research and global evidence have clearly shown that immigration detention is harmful, costly and ineffective. It damages physical and mental health and does not deliver fair or sustainable migration governance.

It does not have to be this way.

Human rights-centred alternatives to detention are kinder, safer, cheaper and better. Proven alternatives include community-based accommodation, independent legal advice, case management, access to healthcare and education, and support that enables people to meet their basic needs while their immigration case is resolved.

These approaches are more humane, more cost-effective and better able to support fair and orderly migration processes.

IDC is also concerned by the rising number of deaths and serious health incidents in immigration custody in the United States. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigations into all deaths in ICE custody, as well as stronger safeguards, transparency and oversight.

Families are being profoundly affected by these practices. Detention and enforcement policies that separate parents from children or prevent families from maintaining contact cause lasting harm. Families belong together, and immigration detention is never in the best interest of the child and is a form of violence against children.

A human rights-based approach would prioritise family unity, community placement, gender-responsive alternatives, child-sensitive case management and access to essential services, rather than using detention or separation as tools of migration control.

Crucially, what is happening in the United States does not stop at its borders. US migration policies and enforcement approaches have a powerful influence across the Americas and around the world.

Increasingly, responsibility for migration control is being shifted onto third countries in different regions. This is contributing to the expansion of detention, enforced disappearances, refoulement, containment and restrictive enforcement practices across the region, often in contexts where safeguards and oversight are limited or non-existent.

This is felt acutely in the Americas. Regional cooperation should instead be grounded in protection for migrants and refugees and coordinated responses for long-term solutions. IDC contributes to this regional goal by promoting screening for needs and vulnerabilities and access to protection and integration.

The erosion of migrant human rights rarely occurs in isolation. When governments normalise arbitrary detention, weakened due process and fear-based enforcement for one group, this can set dangerous precedents. It can undermine trust in public institutions, restrict access to healthcare, education and justice, and erode broader human rights for all.

IDC calls on the United States to:

• Halt the expansion of immigration detention and redirect resources towards community-based alternatives
• End practices that result in family separation or harm to children and prioritise family unity
• Strengthen safeguards, oversight and transparency
• Avoid policies that outsource and externalise responsibility to other countries and ensure regional cooperation protects people from refoulement, disappearance, arbitrary detention and other serious harms
• Invest in human rights-centred, community-based alternatives to detention

At IDC, we remain committed to working collaboratively with our members, partners and affected communities in the US and across the Americas to advance migration systems grounded in human rights, dignity and justice.