Restoring Trust: Breaking ICE’s Hold on our Communities

The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is part of a broad coalition of migrant rights organizations and faith communities that have launched a national campaign to Restore Trust to Our Communities by Breaking Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE’s) Hold. ICE holds, also known as immigration detainers, are the lynchpin of the S-Communities program (S-Comm). Through S-Comm ICE uses local police and jails to funnel thousands of people into deportation.

An ICE hold, though, is a request from ICE to a local law enforcement agency to hold an individual in their custody for 48 hours longer than they would otherwise would, in order to facilitate transfer to ICE.

It’s important for everyone to understand that immigration detainer requests are not mandatory and localities are not legally required to comply with them.

If cities and states decide not to detain and transfer people to ICE by refusing to submit to ICE hold requests, then the S-Comm infrastructure collapses. ICE holds are the Achilles heel of the current program of mass detention and deportations.

Restoring Trust is a national campaign whose purpose is to stop this program. Our strategy is to strengthen, amplify and coordinate local campaigns across the country that urge local officials and politicians to adopt ordinances similar to the precedent-setting Santa Clara, California policy that limit ICE hold requests the county submits to. If other cities, counties, and states were to follow Santa Clara’s lead, it would protect thousands of immigrant families, uphold constitutional due process protections, and restore public trust between local police and the immigrant community.

Join our campaign!

• Congregational Toolkit for Immigration Advocacy in Our Communities (PDF, 8 pages)
• Video Webinar: Restoring Community Trust: Breaking ICE's Hold on your Community (YouTube, 70 minutes)
• Stop S-Comm at the Local Level—Find local interfaith partners
• Learn about one community’s work to stop ICE: Santa Clara County Ends Collaboration with ICE

If you would like more information please contact Rev. Craig Roshaven, croshaven @ uua.org, UUA Witness Ministries Director.