August 2026 Newsletter

Issue #114

Immigrant Detention Centers

There are currently more than 400 active immigration detention sites nationwide, including local jails, staging areas, and temporary holding rooms.

(View map)

Vera Institute of Justice

Figures

70% of current immigrant detainees have no

criminal convictions.

Trac Reports 

Around 60,000 people are being held in detention currently, and around 400,000 people have been booked into immigration detention sites since 2025. 

Brookings

On average, there are 226 children incarcerated per day in U.S. immigration detention centers -- 10 times higher than 2024.

The Marshall Project

The courts have set a 20-day limit on how long children can be detained. However since 2025, ICE has detained more than 1,600 children for longer than 20 days.

The Marshall Project

More than 145,000 U.S. citizen children have likely experienced a parent booked into detention since the administration began, with more than 22,000 of those experiencing detention of all their

co-resident parents. 

Brookings

States with the highest number of immigrant detainees:

Texas -- 18,734

Louisiana -- 8,244

California -- 6,459

Florida -- 5,231

Georgia -- 4,227

TRAC Reports

People from more than 170 countries have passed through ICE detention centers.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

• +1

Conditions

Immigrants in detention centers often suffer from severe medical neglect, overcrowding, and poor sanitation. Though legally classified as civil rather than criminal detention, facilities often mirror or exceed the punitive nature of traditional prisons.

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

 Solitary confinement is frequently utilized, including individuals with mental health disabilities or those who protest conditions.

National Immigrant Justice Center

 Oversight reports and lawsuits detail verbal and physical abuse by guards, improper use of physical restraints, and barriers to communicating with legal representation and family members.

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

By law, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) does not have the authority to target, arrest, or detain U.S. citizens for civil immigration violations. However, investigations by journalism groups and oversight committees have documented over 170 instances where U.S. citizens—predominantly Latinos—were wrongfully detained or arrested during immigration operations.

Propublica

Length of Stay

The average length of stay in ICE custody is

37.5 days.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Detention times vary widely based on specific situations. For example, a voluntary return averages 4 days for individuals who agree to leave quickly. For standard removals, the average is 27 days, with a standard 90-day removal period after a final order. Pending court cases can be several months to over a year for people fighting their cases in immigration court and prolonged legal disputes can be over 100 to 250+ days in specific county jails or complex legal cases where individuals challenge their detention.

TRAC Reports

Costs

It costs taxpayers an average of $152 to $166 per day to house a single detainee or nearly $6,000 for an average stay.

National Immigration Forum

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act enacted in July 2025, included $45 billion for expanding detention capacity over the next 4 years -- ensuring an additional $11.25 billion for ICE detention per year. This amount exceeds the Department of Justice’s budget request of $8.25 billion for the entire federal prison system, which holds more than 155,000 inmates. ICE’s total detention budget for FY2025 surpassed $14 billion, more than 400% greater than the funding for detention in 2024 and nearly 800% greater than 2010 immigration detention funding.

American Immigration Council

Deaths

Since January 2025, 52 people died in ICE custody in the United States. This mortality rate is at its highest level in over a decade and is nearly 4 times that of the previous administration, and more than 2.5 times as high as 2019. The current trend-level rate is now even higher than during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Human Rights Watch

American Attitudes

39% of Americans believe that conditions in immigration detention centers are worse than conditions in U.S. prisons. 

YouGov

64% of Americans think the administration has wrongfully detained U.S. citizens in immigrant detention centers, including 40% who think they have done this to many people. 

YouGov

For more on Immigration, click here.

Si Pudiera Quedarme (If I Could Stay)

A documentary story about two undocumented Latinx mothers, Jeanette and Ingrid, who courageously enter local churches to evade deportation and protect their families. The film follows five years of their lives as these two mothers organize and activate the mainly white faith communities who are grappling with the idea of how to put their power, privilege, and faith into action to support their undocumented sanctuary guests. The film explores friendships and relationships that develop between Jeanette, Ingrid, and their white allied hosts, while focusing on the learning and unlearning necessary to be an effective ally towards undocumented communities.

 Watch the trailer.

For more on Immigration, click here.

Supporting Immigrants in a Time of Need

A resource from the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), that offers immediate steps parishes and other institutions can take to provide the safety and security of their members, and to accompany and support immigrants that are detained or threatened by deportation. It includes essential Know Your Rights information for immigrants, emergency preparedness planning resources, and accompaniment and educational resources for parish staff and volunteers. Learn more.

For more on Immigration, click here.

Two Wars, No Clear Exit Plan. Now What?

A TED Talk featuring Ian Bremmer who looks at what the wars in Iran and Ukraine -- neither of which seems to have a way out. He shares what they are costing the people around the world and which one might spiral out of control. Watch now.

For more on War, click here.

UN Women

Agency focuses on priority areas that are fundamental to women’s equality, and that can unlock progress across the board. Exists to advance women’s rights, gender equality, and the empowerment of all women and girls. As the lead United Nations entity on gender equality, shifts laws, institutions, social norms, and services to close the gender gap and build an equal world for all women and girls. Keeps the rights of women and girls at the center of global progress. Priority areas include:

• Women’s leadership and political participation
• Economic empowerment
• Ending violence against women
• Peace and security
• Humanitarian action
• Governance and national planning
• Youth and gender equality
• Women and girls with disabilities
• HIV and AIDS

Learn more.

For more on Gender Inequality, click here.

Human Trafficking Public Awareness Video

A resource from the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) demonstrating how to identify and report potential signs of human trafficking. The video was launched as part of an aggressive security campaign leading up to the FIFA World Cup 2026 hosted in Atlanta, an event drawing massive crowds and heightened safety risks. The video aims to break the silence surrounding human trafficking by teaching travelers how to recognize potential behavioral red flags and vulnerabilities. Watch now. 

For more on Human Trafficking, click here.

Porchlight Resistance

A movement of ordinary people who refuse to look away while democracy is tested. They’re not politicians, pundits, or influencers - but neighbors, workers, dreamers, and citizens who believe decency still matters. Through short films, satire, and storytelling, they shine a light on the creeping darkness of misinformation, apathy, and authoritarian thinking. Their goal isn’t rage, it’s awareness. Their weapon isn’t hate, it’s vigilance. Learn more.

For more Public Witness resources, click here.

"Peace on Earth" -- Already and Not Yet

By Massimo Faggioli. Looks back at Pope John XXIII 's 1963 encyclical Pacem in Terris with an analysis of its background, context and reception. Shows how peace rests on truth, justice, and freedom and is just as relevant today. Along with the teaching of Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV, these pages reveal that peace is not an abstract idea but a historical and spiritual task that calls the global conscience, as international rule of law and diplomacy are displaced by might makes right and unilateral power politics. Read more.

For more Peace resources, click here.

Songs in the Key of Resistance:

A Movement Songbook

A free resource from the Kairos Center. Draws on the rich history of social movement music, both old and new -- from spirituals to labor songs, from freedom songs of the Civil Rights Movement, to the music rising up from our struggles today. It is meant to give people ways to join, to remember, to affirm, to honor, to rage. to celebrate, to practice new ways of being in relationship with one another and the earth, and to envision and create a world that is just and habitable for future generations. Includes videos, an alphabetized index and lyrics. Learn more.

For more Justice resources, click here.

jesuitresource.org

Sponsored by Xavier University, offers prayers for justice and peace, quotes, videos, a multi-faith calendar of religious holy days and much more.

Learn more.

For more Justice resources, click here.

Impact Fund

Provides grants, advocacy, and education to support impact litigation on behalf of communities seeking economic, environmental, racial, and social justice. They do this by (1) making grants to support cases that affect large numbers of people and aim to change a larger system or lead to significant legal reform; (2) providing training for public interest law practitioners on a wide range of issues relating to public interest litigation including in-person presentations, brown bag lunches, webinars, our annual Class Action Conference, and a three-day intensive Class Action Training Institute; and (3) pursuing an active and diverse docket of impact civil rights cases, maintaining an active amicus program, and providing consulting to civil rights practitioner on a range of complex issues, free of charge. Their vision is a more equitable world where everyone can achieve justice. Learn more.

For more Justice resources, click here.

Lawfare

A non-profit multimedia publication dedicated to “Hard National Security Choices.” Provides non-partisan, timely analysis of thorny legal and policy issues through written, audio, and other content. Strives to achieve academic-level depth with magazine-level readability at the pace of news. Aims to improve the discourse on the law and policy of national security with a relentless focus on substantive issues that matter—in a fashion that is useful to policymakers and practitioners, but also accessible to anyone who wants to access it. Their areas of coverage range from national security law, threats to democracy, cybersecurity, executive powers, content moderation, domestic extremism, and foreign policy, among many others. Learn more. 

For more Justice resources, click here.

The Torah Is an Open Book: Radical Readings for the Seeker and the Skeptic

By Caryn Broitman. Offers a return to the ancient Jewish tradition of midrash--a creative, questioning, and often radical form of interpretation--to show that Scripture isn't meant to be read literally or rigidly. It's meant to be wrestled with. Invites readers of all backgrounds--religious, secular, spiritual but not religious--to engage with the Bible as a living conversation. Drawing on centuries of Jewish commentary and her own experience as a congregational rabbi, the author shows how even the most difficult or obscure passages can become sources of insight, justice, and connection when read through the lens of midrash. With warmth, clarity, and a fresh look at Jewish tradition, reclaims sacred text as a space for dialogue, transformation, and moral courage, where questioning, wrestling, and interpreting are not only allowed--they're sacred.

(Available August 4)

Read more.

For more Justice resources, click here.

Our Last, Best Chance to Cool the Earth

A TED Talk, featuring environmentalist Bill McKibben, who says we're living through oil wars, wildfire smoke and extreme weather driven by a warming planet, but one thing is finally going right: the price of clean energy has plunged, making it cheaper than ever to power the world without burning fossil fuels. He breaks down how energy from the sun became the best option on Earth — and why this narrow window of time may be our last real shot at a different future. Watch now.

For more on the Environment, click here.

On Natural Capital: The Value of the World Around Us – Transforming Economics to Value Nature and Combat Climate Change

By Partha Dasgupta. Lays out a new approach to economics that asks, what if we were to put a value on nature just as we value everything else? Rooted in the human struggle against climate change, the book's approach examines the existential need to rethink our relationship to nature and see its preservation as an economic imperative. Challenging much of economic thought that has come before, the author presents an urgent call to transform the focus and structures of global economics with a profound new model—one so radical that only an economist of his stature could make the world take it seriously. Read more.

For more on the Environment, click here.

Nuclear is Not the Solution

By M.V. Ramana. Argues that nuclear power will slow our response to climate change and increase the risk of weapons proliferation. Even beyond the implications of potential meltdowns and waste disposal, the author says that nuclear is not practicable on a large scale. Future energy technology depends on two important parameters: cost and time, and nuclear fails on both counts. It is more costly than its renewable competitors wind and solar. And, importantly given the need for rapid transformation, it is slow. A plant takes a decade to come online not including permits and fundraising etc. The book also reveals the powerful groups with vested interests in the maintenance of the status quo, currently working hard to greenwash a spectacularly dirty industry. Read more.

For more on the Environment, click here.

Prayer for Justice

Grant us, Lord God, a vision of your world as your love would have it:

a world where the weak are protected, and none go hungry or poor;

a world where the riches of creation are shared, and everyone can enjoy them;

a world where different races and cultures live in harmony and mutual respect;

a world where peace is built with justice, and justice is guided by love.

Give us the inspiration and courage to build it, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

- Author Unknown

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