“Unlocking Human Dignity: A Plan to Transform the U.S. Immigrant Detention System,” a new scathing joint report from the Migration and Refugee Services/United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Center for Migration Studies (CMS), speaks of the baleful effects of immigrant detention on the lives of persons who pose no threat or danger, but are treated like criminals.

The report is filled with troubling facts uncovered through onsite visits, an extensive review of past publications, and an unvarnished examination of the current system. For example, did you know that the number of persons detained annually increased from roughly 85,000 in 1995 to over 440,500 in 2013?

Now that’s a radical expansion, and the number of detention centers has expanded as well, costing taxpayers more than $2 billion annually. As the report itself indicates, those “numbers only hint at the toll that this system exacts in despair, fractured families, human rights violations, abandoned legal claims, and diminished national prestige.”

The current detention system is a sprawling hodgepodge of facilities, consisting of state and county jails, privately-run for-profit prisons, Bureau of Prison facilities, Border Patrol holding cells, and even “service processing centers” administered by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Detained immigrants in these facilities often receive worse treatment and fewer protections than criminals serving prison sentences. Numerous reports have described the many problems that exist in a system where standards are not codified and independent oversight is lacking: poor or nonexistent health services; the misuse of segregation; physical, emotional and sexual abuse; women forced to deliver babies in restraints; frequent hunger strikes; restrictions on visitation; violence and discrimination against gay, lesbian and bisexual persons; problems related to due process, legal access and religious expression – among many others.

The situation is even worse where children are involved. A February report by “Detention Watch Network” notes that studies by the bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, New York University’s Bellevue Program for Survivors of Torture, and Physicians for Human Rights conclude that detention is psychologically damaging and completely inappropriate for children because it aggravates isolation, depression and mental health problems associated with past trauma. Onsite visits by members of the “Detention Watch Network” have also shown that children as young as eight months wore prison uniforms, lived and slept in locked prison cells with open-air toilets, and families were subject to highly restricted movement and threatened with family separation if children cried or played too loudly.

Since 2009, Congress has mandated that DHS maintain at least 33,400 detention beds, known ever since as the “detention bed quota.” And many members of Congress interpret this mandate as requiring DHS to fill that many beds each night. The current DHS Secretary, Jeh Johnson, has testified that he interprets this language to require that DHS maintain 34,400 beds, not detain 34,400 persons every night. Yet, nothing has changed at the detention level.

Another major problem (there are so many, it is difficult to enumerate all of them) is an overreliance on for-profit, privately-run detention centers. These have burgeoned over time, just as they have in the correctional system, so that by 2015, “for-profit prison corporations administered nine of the nation’s ten largest immigrant detention centers” (USCCB/CMS report). There is a plethora of studies to demonstrate that for-profit agencies strive to maximize profits for their shareholders, spend exorbitant funds on lobbying both federal and state legislators for their own causes, and spend millions on campaigns. However, the USCCB/CMS report claims that the real culprit is DHS’s lack of oversight expertise to assess performance under the contracts and a lack of data collection needed to address any deficiencies in the system.

As a May 19 editorial in the Seattle Times forthrightly indicates, “the immigration system is distorted by partisanship, xenophobia, conflicted guidance and pressure from companies that are paid a fortune to run detention centers…”

The New York Times Editorial Board pointed out on May 15 that the immigrant detention system has become an enormous funnel for the overburdened and underfunded immigration courts, which receive a meager $300 million from Congress each year, only one-sixtieth of what Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol (BP) receive. More than 400,000 cases were pending before immigration judges at the end of March 2015, with an average case waiting 599 days to be heard. This hardly constitutes due process for immigrants.

In addition, immigrant detention has been employed as part of a broader enforcement strategy to prevent refugees and other migrants who are fleeing violence from reaching U.S. protection. Not only is this unconscionable, but it has also been, at times, counterproductive. As Pope Benedict said in 2007, immigration and protection policies must serve the human person, not treat the human person as a means to an end.

However, the paramount concern of the USCCB/CMS report is different than any particular deficiency. Central to the issue is the fact that detention is treated as a pillar of immigration enforcement and is the major management tool in the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) toolkit. Detention, in its layout, construction, staffing plans and management strategies operates like a prison system and is based on traditional prison principles of command and control. But this so-called correctional system operates without the same level of professionalism and proficiency expected of a correctional system, which has to uphold numerous minimum standards of treatment. Yet the only purpose of detention is to ensure that noncitizens appear for court proceedings.

The USCCB/CMS report points out that the purpose of detention would be accomplished by supervised release with case management and community-based support services in most cases – and calls for the least restrictive conditions placed on others where it is required. The report highlights the fact that American Bar Association (ABA) standards and guidelines of the past few years also support using alternatives to detention to transform the immigrant detention system.

The USCCB/CMS report notes that DHS’s own 2014 data show that between fiscal years 2011 and 2013, the two programs they operate using alternatives to detention yielded an appearance rate of 99% at court hearings and 95% at final removal court hearings. These data clearly demonstrate that detention is not only hurtful to the recipients but unnecessary, and wasteful of scarce resources.

Although the Obama administration’s reforms since 2009 have been humane and made notable differences in the lives of many detainees, too many of these reforms have been incremental in nature and avoided the major issue of detention per se. The high costs and human rights abuses will continue without the fundamental change that the USCCB/CMS report advances.

It is important to support the recommendations of the USCCB/CMS report, especially the replacement of detention with an expansion of all types of less restrictive alternatives to ensure appearances, as well as increasing the funding for immigration courts by an order of magnitude. In the meantime, we support curtailing and rigorously monitoring all for-profit facilities. Our biblical tradition recognizes the right to migrate in response to war, human rights abuses and extreme poverty. As the bishops’ introduction letter to the USCCB/CMS report indicates, migrants fall within every marginal group who deserve assistance – those who are hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, ill and imprisoned.

On June 3, the House of Representatives passed its fourth spending bill of 2015, the Commerce-Justice-Science (CSJ) bill. However, it was not without an anti-immigrant attack, this time by Representative Steve King (R-IA-04). His amendment, which passed 222-204, prohibits the use of any funding by the Department of Justice to continue its legal battles concerning President Obama’s November 2014 executive actions. Sadly, these efforts to continue forcing our immigrant brothers and sisters to live in constant fear of deportation have become expected in this Congress.

What exactly does this mean moving forward? On May 26, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Department of Justice’s emergency stay request of the preliminary injunction issued by Texas federal district court judge Andrew Hanen. The aforementioned injunction halted all progress towards the implementation of Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA+). The next steps in the process are to appeal the injunction itself (which will happen in New Orleans in July) and to decide the merits of the case, or whether the states behind the lawsuit have standing to pursue it. Representative King’s amendment is designed to prevent the federal government from pursuing either of these steps!

Overall, this new amendment is a disgusting attempt to further marginalize and isolate parents and children who deserve the chance to fully participate in our society through an eventual pathway to citizenship. However, this amendment does not spell the end of the fight against the legal challenges to DAPA and DACA, and we look forward to a successful conclusion to these legal challenges that will allow the executive actions to move forward. We are mindful, however, that these executive actions are only a temporary fix to address parts of a broken system.

Congress should pass comprehensive immigration reform that fixes our broken immigration system and allows millions of undocumented men, women and children currently living in the U.S. an opportunity to fully participate in our society by providing a pathway to citizenship. In this way, Congress can heed our moral call to welcome the stranger and treat all people with dignity.

The Republican presidential contest is in full swing and one of the key issues that have been discussed thus far is the issue of immigration. Unfortunately for supporters of comprehensive immigration reform, the hysteria and demeaning rhetoric on the campaign trail has spilled over to the Halls of Congress with anti-immigrant Members of Congress once again pushing legislation to further militarize the U.S. border and to increase enforcement actions against immigrant communities around the country. The religious community, working with immigrant rights groups, is actively working to stop anti-immigrant legislation in Congress.

Pope Francis’s arrival in Washington, DC and his address to Congress on September24 present a challenge to anti-immigrant Members as well as the Republican leadership in Congress. It is widely expected that the pope will raise the issue of immigration during his trip and call on Members of Congress to pursue policies that welcome immigrants and refugees. It is hoped that his visit will have a positive impact on the Hill.

One of the most immediate threats this September is a bill that passed the House right before August recess and is set to be taken up in September. Sponsored by Senator Grassley and Senator Vitter, it is called the “Stop Sanctuary Cities Act” (S. 1814). The Grassley/Vitter amendment seeks to coerce law enforcement agencies (LEAs) to implement DHS’s immigration detainers, even though multiple federal courts have found that such detainers present constitutional problems. Under the amendment, law enforcement officials in over 300 cities and countries that refuse to honor the detainers risk losing federal justice department (“DOJ”) and housing department (“HUD”) funding. The amendment also creates new mandatory minimum sentences that would create unprecedented overcrowding in the federal prison system, even as other leaders and lawmakers including the senators’ own colleagues on both sides of the aisle have committed to reduce incarceration levels in our nation’s prisons and jails.

A second threat exists to immigrants in budget and tax debates. There are some human needs programs and tax credits, such as the Child Tax Credit, that benefit immigrant communities. There are already a number of proposals to cut back or eliminate these benefits to immigrant communities.

Finally, our community continues to demand that the Obama administration end the practice of placing young mothers with children fleeing violence in Central America in detention facilities. Family detention victimizes young mothers and children who are not a threat and have committed no crimes. Further, there are humane alternatives for detention for this vulnerable group.

NETWORK weeps with all who are suffering from violence all over the world. The principles of Catholic Social Teaching teach us to live in solidarity with our neighbors, with empathy for all who are suffering regardless of religion, race, or nationality. Together with the global community, we mourn the attacks in Paris. We pray for the lives that were lost and pray for healing for the injured as well as the families and friends of victims.

We also pray for all victims of violence in other countries including Beirut, Baghdad, and the ongoing violence in Syria. When hearing of these tragedies, we cannot forget the lesson taught in the parable of the Good Samaritan: our neighbor may not be someone who looks like us, speaks our language, or shares our customs. When Pope Francis came to the United States he encouraged Congress to heed the call to welcome the stranger saying:

“Our world is facing a refugee crisis of a magnitude not seen since the Second World War. This presents us with great challenges and many hard decisions. … We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation. To respond in a way which is always humane, just and fraternal.”

For us, the faithful response is to welcome Syrian refugees of all faiths into our country and our communities. We must do this if we truly recognize the sacred call to protect and nourish all life. We must denounce Islamophobia that threatens our Muslim sisers and brothers from any source – from a neighbor in line at the grocery store to members of Congress, governors, and Presidential candidates. Fear cannot and must not be an excuse for inaction, or worse, a rejection of our faithful duty to respond to the urgent needs of our Syrian brothers and sisters. We must live up to the words of Jesus in the Gospel: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in” (Matthew 25:35.)

I invite you to join me and NETWORK members across the country in calling on your senators to welcome refugees by following these steps:

Call 1-888-897-9753 to contact your senior Senator’s office.

When you call, here’s what you might say: 

“Hi, my name is [NAME], and I am a constituent from [CITY]. I’m calling today because I stand with Pope Francis and urge you to welcome refugees from Syria fleeing violence. Please oppose any legislation that attempts to limit access to refugees based on their religion or country of origin.” 

Call 1-888-496-3502 to contact your junior Senator’s office.

When you call, here’s what you might say: 

“Hi, my name is [NAME], and I am a constituent from [CITY]. I’m calling today because I stand with Pope Francis and urge you to welcome refugees from Syria fleeing violence. Please oppose any legislation that attempts to limit access to refugees based on their religion or country of origin.”