Democratic Lawmakers Say ICE Charging Parents To Call Their Kids Violates Immigration Standards

After being separated from their children at the border and detained in facilities scattered across the US, some migrant parents have to pay steep fees to speak with their children, a policy that a group of Democratic lawmakers have called "shameless" and "morally reprehensible." In a letter sent to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, about 150 Democratic members of Congress argued that the practice of charging "exorbitant" prices to place phone calls from immigrant detention violates ICE's national standards. Detained immigrants are able to call specific lawyers and government help lines for free, according to the agency's telephone access standards. It also states that facilities should enable detainees to make direct or free calls to "immediate family or others for detainees in personal and family emergencies" and that detainees should have "equitable access to reasonably priced telephone services" — which the letter from Congress points out. For anyone else, detainees or the people they are contacting are responsible for the cost of the phone call.