Immigrant Detention in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, and the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly spreading throughout the US immigrant detention system and beyond.  This webinar covers the conditions in immigrant detention facilities in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama; litigation that seeks the release of different populations of detainees; alternatives to detention; and the troubled history of detention in the region. Speakers include:

• Donald Kerwin, Executive Director of the Center for Migration Studies (CMS);
• Hiroko Kusuda, Clinic Professor and Director of the Immigration Law Section of Loyola University New Orleans College of Law;
• Amelia S. McGowan, the Immigration Campaign Director of the Mississippi Center for Justice, and an Adjunct Professor at the Mississippi College School of Law Immigration Clinic; and
• Mark Dow, the author of American Gulag: Inside US Immigration Prisons, the definitive study on the US detention system.

The event was sponsored by CMS, the Loyola University of New Orleans College of Law, the Jesuit Social Research Institute at Loyola University, and the Mississippi Center for Justice.

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Due to health and travel concerns related to COVID-19, CMS and its partners canceled the 2020 Whole of Community Conference that was planned for May 21-23. This year’s conference theme was “Building Just and Inclusive Communities in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama: 15 Years After Katrina.”  This is the first of two webinars that CMS will host in its stead to allow participants to explore the challenges facing diverse immigrant and refugee communities in this region, including the new obstacles presented by COVID-19.