On December 11, 2024 Innovation Law Lab teamed up with the Integrated Rural Strategies Group to host a webinar titled Freedom To Thrive, in support of the Anticarceral Legal Organizing program at Law Lab.

We are pleased to share with y’all the video recording of the webinar, as well as the webinar slides for your review and to share with other members of your community.

Key takeaways of this webinar:

1. The cruelty is by design. The abuse that migrants are subjected to in ICE detention is instrumental in service of a mass deportation campaign.
2. The moral argument for prison closure is only as effective as our economic argument. The moral argument for ending immigration detention will only help us achieve our goal of ending immigration detention if we are also able to name a positive vision - a positive vision for a human-centered response to immigration as well as a positive vision for the future of communities that have come to rely on prison economies.
3. In order to achieve transformative change, we have to genuinely care about the wellbeing of residents of rural communities.
4. Decision makers won’t do the right thing unless we make them. Shutting down detention centers requires political will exercised by people in positions of power that would prefer not to have to make that decision. It is up to us to bring people together to build power and force them to do so. One way to do this is by addressing the real problems that prisons only pretend to solve.

Additionally, we would like to invite y’all to engage these Calls to Action:

1. Donate to help fund our work via the Anticarceral Legal Organizing webpage or on Venmo - $25 or any amount helps us sustain our program, maintain momentum, and build the movement. Consider a monthly donation that fits your budget to become an ongoing partner in this work.
2. Follow stories told directly by migrants detained in New Mexico at TCDF on Instagram and review the well documented history of abuse at TCDF.
3. Learn more about what residents of Torrance County want for their future in their People’s Platform - shocker: communities want so many things that are NOT a prison!
4. Share our work with 3 people and invite them to follow, donate, and learn more!

We are so grateful to everyone that joined us for the webinar - community members, partner organizations, funders, and curious individuals - to discuss how immigration detention harms people inside AND outside its walls, and how organizing with all impacted communities is the best way to build pathways to end ICE detention so that everyone can thrive.