Detention Standards Fall Short: A Faith Response to Immigration Detention
Global Refuge is warning that the Department of Homeland Security’s updated immigration detention standards still fall far short of what is needed to protect the dignity, safety and humanity of immigrants and refugees.
The concern comes at a time of increased public attention to conditions inside immigration detention centers. Global Refuge notes that faith communities, family members, advocates and concerned neighbors have been praying and protesting outside detention facilities, including Delaney Hall in New Jersey and the Dilley family detention center in Texas. Their concern is urgent: deaths in ICE custody are at the highest level in more than a decade, with 52 people dying in ICE custody between January 20, 2025, and June 4, 2026, according to reporting cited by Global Refuge.
The updated 2026 ICE National Detention Standards include some improvements. Global Refuge notes that the standards specify that interpretation and translation should be provided at no cost to detained people, require earlier mental health evaluations, direct facilities to seek transfers when medical or mental health needs cannot be met, and provide clearer expectations for release, including access to a phone call, legal and medical resources, weather-appropriate clothing and transportation to public transit or a local nonprofit when needed.
Those changes matter. But Global Refuge makes clear that they are not enough. The updated standards still allow children and families to be detained. They still permit people to be held for long periods with no clear end in sight. They still allow solitary confinement for people with serious mental illness. And they still leave serious concerns about inadequate medical care, access to information, communication, translation and accountability.
For LAMA, this is a faith issue. Lutherans believe that every person is created in the image of God and deserves to be treated with dignity, regardless of immigration status. Detention policy should not be measured only by efficiency or enforcement goals, but by whether it protects life, honors family unity, provides due process and safeguards people who are medically or mentally vulnerable.
This is especially important for Arizona. Border-state communities know that immigration policy is not abstract. It affects parents, children, asylum seekers, refugees, mixed-status families, congregations, schools, shelters, legal service providers and ministries of accompaniment. When detention systems lack transparency or accountability, the harm is felt not only inside detention walls but across entire communities.
Global Refuge also raises a central public-policy question: what happens when enforcement funding grows while oversight and reform lag behind? Congress recently approved major new immigration enforcement funding without the guardrails advocates have requested. Global Refuge urges Congress to ensure that future funding comes with real protections, including transparency, independent inspections, limits on solitary confinement and safeguards for people with medical or mental health needs.
People of faith should not look away. We can call on Congress to end family detention, strengthen oversight, require humane release practices, protect access to legal and medical resources, and ensure that detention standards are enforced — not merely written down. We can also support community-based alternatives to detention, which Global Refuge notes have shown success in helping families comply with immigration proceedings while avoiding the trauma of detention.
LAMA joins the call for an immigration system that reflects dignity, fairness and humanity. The question before Congress is not only how much money to spend on enforcement, but what kind of system our nation is willing to build. As Lutherans, we are called to stand with neighbors whose safety and dignity are at risk — and to insist that public policy protect people rather than harm them.
ELCA Action Alert: Oppose Immigration Enforcement Funding without Reforms
Global Refuge Action Alert: No More Abuse, No More Silence: Protect Immigrants
Read more
Global Refuge: DHS Updated Detention Standards Fall Short While Funding Increases
ICE PDF: National Detention Standards 2026
Global Refuge: Immigration Enforcement Funding Bill
The key public links are Global Refuge’s analysis, ICE’s 2026 National Detention Standards landing page, the direct 2026 NDS PDF, ICE’s detention standards library, and Global Refuge’s related immigration enforcement funding analysis. (globalrefuge.org)