Disability Law United’s goal is the abolition of the detention-and-deportation system, which perpetuates systemic oppression through ableism and disabling harms. Disability Law United recognizes the inhumane approach of the US’s current system and knows that immigration itself can be a disabling event. Immigration detention, which is civil in nature and therefore purportedly non-punitive, has long been problematic, with high rates of deaths and suicides in custody and widespread allegations of physical and sexual abuse and substandard medical and mental health care.
The detention system puts everyone in ICE custody at risk of harm. It provides inadequate medical care, discriminates against people with disabilities, stigmatizes and exacerbates the mental health needs of detained people, and causes further trauma to a population that faces high rates of trauma. There are many people with disabilities in detention and the immigration system broadly; in fact, populations such as asylum seekers have higher than average rates of PTSD, anxiety, and other mental health disabilities. Disability Law United helps disabled people in this cruel system access their human rights.