Immigrant advocacy group fundraising to help people detained in South Georgia call family
FILE – In this Nov. 15, 2019, file photo, a detainee talks on the phone in his pod at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga. After a pandemic-era program ended abruptly, people detained at Stewart now have to pay for phone calls to friends and family. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
El Refugio, a nonprofit helping people held at Stewart Detention Center, is gathering donations to pay for outgoing phone calls after a free phone call program ended earlier this summer.
People in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention received a few free phone calls each week to family and friends at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The calls started when visitation stopped due to public health protocols. Phone calls can cost more than $1 per minute.
Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin is just one of at least 16 ICE detention centers around the country where people detained say they now have to pay for those calls to friends and family – calls to attorneys and legal services are still free.
“We were working with people in detention who were taken by surprise that these changes were being implemented and with no other explanation or notification,” said Amilcar Valencia, the executive director of El Refugio. “It makes it super hard for any of us who tries to advocate for the rights and dignity of people in detention.”
In person visits have since resumed at detention centers, but Valencia said they are not always easy to arrange, and many people in detention have families overseas who are worried because they have not heard from their loved one.
An ICE spokesperson said they are looking into the situation.
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