1. United States
2. Pa.
3. Letter

I need you to oppose the Trump administration's unlawful detention policies that are imprisoning lawful refugees and immigrants who have committed no crimes. Federal judges across the country have already ruled these policies illegal, yet DHS continues to ignore the law. Operation PARRIS is targeting 5,600 lawful refugees in Minnesota who underwent extensive federal vetting and followed every legal process. Federal Judge John Tunheim ordered DHS to stop these detentions on January 28, finding the policy likely illegal and leading to "absurd results." The administration is also reinterpreting a 1996 law to detain anyone who ever entered without permission, regardless of how long ago, without bond during proceedings that can take years. Over 300 federal judges have found this policy illegal. These detention centers are torturous. People are fed moldy food, denied medications for serious conditions, and held in conditions so severe they abandon their legal rights just to escape. A Cuban man died at an El Paso tent camp in what the county medical examiner ruled a homicide. As of November, only 5% of ICE detainees had committed violent crimes. This is ethnic cleansing through a system of lawlessness. Block funding for these detention facilities and demand DHS follow the law.