ICE Shuts Down Immigrant Hotline After It Was Featured On 'Orange Is The New Black'

By Nicole Belle — August 25, 2019

Apparently, having assistance to immigrants publicized made it something that ICE could not stomach.

A toll-free hotline designed to help immigrants in detention centers get legal counsel was shut down by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after the number was mentioned in the acclaimed Netflix series "Orange Is The New Black," according to the California-based group that runs it.

The Freedom for Immigrants’ National Immigration Detention Hotline has been an available resource to people in immigration detention since 2013, but it was shut down on Aug. 7, about two weeks after the premiere of the last season of "Orange Is The New Black," the organization said in a press release.

The hotline was featured in various episodes. After two longtime characters, "Blanca" and "Maritza," end up in deportation proceedings, they learn that immigrants don’t have the right to a free phone call after they are detained. Without access to money, both characters learn about the Freedom for Immigrants hotline and start passing out the number to others in the facility.

“The timing of the shutdown is deeply concerning. Freedom for Immigrants is being targeted for exposing abuses in detention and amplifying the stories of people suffering in the system” said Christina Fialho, an attorney and executive director of Freedom for Immigrants, in a statement.

God forbid we treat immigrants like human beings deserving of dignity and rights. The sad thing is that it's impossible to say if this came from the White House or ICE/CBP acting on their own.

Jenn Budd, a former CBP agent and occasionally C&L contributer tweeted yesterday that she's concerned with power grabs she's seeing at her former agency.

I’m going to say something that I usually only say in private bc it is more of an opinion than fact. But I think it’s important for everyone & reporters to keep in mind as ICE and CBP continue to make power grabs. 1)

— Jenn Budd (@BuddJenn) August 23, 2019

2) It has long been the opinion in immigrant rights groups that ICE and CBP are building & grabbing power w/the ultimate goal being a state police agency. That is not necessarily news. But this is ➡️

— Jenn Budd (@BuddJenn) August 23, 2019

3) That opinion/observation exists separately & independent in those agencies as well. In fact David Aguilar, former Border Patrol Chief under Bush, had this hope for his agency.

— Jenn Budd (@BuddJenn) August 23, 2019

4) I am of this opinion as well bc I see two separate/opposing sides w/the same conclusion. I also see immigration agencies purposely lying about the dangers & level of crisis they are facing.

— Jenn Budd (@BuddJenn) August 23, 2019

5) And to what end I ask? The only plausible answer in seeing their insatiable expansion in jurisdiction leads me to a national police force.

— Jenn Budd (@BuddJenn) August 23, 2019

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