Demand Free Telecommunications for Detained Immigrants
Facility Administrator Jeff Searls
Advocates in WNY and across the nation are calling on ICE to allow free telephone and internet access for detained persons in facilities during this potentially fatal COVID-19 pandemic.
In line with detention centers nationwide, the Buffalo Federal Detention Center in Batavia, NY partners with private communications corporations to provide limited internet and telephone access to people who are detained there for civil immigration offenses or while they are going through asylum hearings. These corporations, such as Telmate in Batavia, charge exorbitant rates, given that people who are detained there are only able to earn $1 a day at most. From within the Buffalo Federal Detention Center, it costs:
- 7 cents per minute to call inside NYS
- 15 cents a minute to call a landline internationally
- 35 cents per minute to call cell phones internationally
- $6 for a half an hour video visitation
- $5 charge fee for each $25 of minutes that a family puts on their loved ones’ phone
Petition by
Sponsored by
To:
Facility Administrator Jeff Searls
From:
[Your Name]
Your office recently took the step of suspending in-person visitation at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility to prevent the spread of COVID-19. While there is no question that in-person visitation can be risky at this time, detained immigrants and their families must be able to communicate in order to endure this trying, confusing, and constantly evolving pandemic.
We are writing to request your leadership in protecting detained people and their loved ones by providing phone and video calls free of cost for at least the duration of the crisis. We are calling for the immediate removal of costs of telecommunications to those detained.
As you know, there is a general panic as cases of COVID-19 spread. Detained people’s loved ones are even more likely to be concerned, as it can be difficult for detention facilities to prevent unsanitary and overcrowded conditions, which also put people at risk for COVID-19.
While the decision to halt visits may be best for public health reasons, it puts loved ones in a bind. During this period of significant financial instability, families and friends of those detained shouldn’t have to bear an increased financial burden to support loved ones in detention, considering in-person visits are free of direct costs. Everyone deserves freedom of communication.
Over the past two weeks, detained persons in Batavia have all been given two phone calls without any fees. It is within your power as Facility Administrator to extend this waiver to all telecommunications. We urge you to respond to the current public health crisis in a measured, humane way.
Ensure families and lawyers have access to regular communications channels with incarcerated loved ones or clients, including but not limited to phone calls, email, video conferencing, postage mail. Limits on calls, emails, and video conferencing should be removed, and the fees should be waived.
Telecommunications must be immediately made free of cost for all detained people.
History will remember your choice.