Category: ICE

Harvard Law School Clinic Sues Immigration Authorities Over Public Records Requests

Program Director Sabi Ardalan and clinical students George Biashvili ’22 and Michael Shang ’22 spoke with the Harvard Crimson about a recent FOIA lawsuit.  Image credit: Nicolas Lampert

Harvard immigration clinic sues for records on ICE detention

“There is clear evidence that long-term solitary confinement has devastating effects, particularly on trauma survivors,” said Sabrineh Ardalan, the clinic’s director. “It is essential that we obtain these records in order to ensure that DHS is not continuing past harmful practices.”

Two people stand in front of a detention center. One has their arm around the other. There is text that reads Justice for ICDC Survivors.

Update on ICDC Investigation

Earlier this month, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, Chairwoman of the Oversight and Reform Committee, Rep. Nanette Barragán, Chairwoman of the Border Security, Facilitation, & Operations Subcommittee, and Rep. Jamie Raskin, Chairman of the Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee, sent a letter to the Department of Homeland…
Read more

#NoTechforICE: Big Tech, Bureaucratic Violence, and Immigrant Justice

On November 15th from 3-4:30PM, our Program and the HarvardWIT+ employee resource group, along with other community partners, will host an event about the movement to expose the role ‘Big Tech’ plays in ICE detention and deportations: #NoTechforICE: Big Tech, Bureaucratic Violence, and Immigrant Justice. This event aims to bring different community members across Harvard together to…
Read more

“We need justice and freedom:” Advocating for the rights of medical abuse survivors through the ICDC Project

On September 16th, the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic and the HLS Immigration Project, in collaboration with Project South, Georgia Detention Watch, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, and South Georgia Immigrant Support Network, released a report, titled Violence and Violation: Exposing medical abuse of immigrants detained at the Irwin County Detention Center. Download the full report (PDF).…
Read more

No Justice, No Freedom: Medical Abuse in Private Prisons

Program Director Sabi Ardalan and Azadeh Shahshahani, Legal & Advocacy Director at Project South, penned this op-ed for Women’s eNews.

BREAKING: New Report Details Abuse and Trauma of Immigrant Women in ICE Detention in Georgia

Project South, Georgia Detention Watch, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, South Georgia Immigrant Support Network, and Staff and Students at Harvard Law School Outline Violations A year after immigrants’ rights supporters first shed light on the horrific abuses of women detained at the Irwin County Detention Center (“ICDC”) in Georgia, advocates have released a…
Read more

Last Petitioner in Georgia Gynecological Abuse Class Action Secures Release from ICE Custody

ATLANTA —The final known survivor of alleged gynecological abuse at the Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC) secured her freedom Friday afternoon, January 22, in Atlanta, Georgia.

UN Special Rapporteur cites Program’s submission

On November 10th, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance presented a report at the UN General Assembly on racial and xenophobic discrimination, emerging digital technologies, and border and immigration enforcement. This report cites our Program’s comments, submitted in May 2020, which focus on the United States’ use of…
Read more

Cyberlaw Clinic weighs in on warrantless device searches at the US border

Mason Kortz ’14, of the HLS Cyberlaw Clinic, discusses the amicus brief his clinic submitted on behalf of the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program regarding device searches at the U.S. border.