Global Refuge is raising serious concerns that the Department of Homeland Security’s updated immigration detention standards still fall far short of protecting the dignity, safety, and humanity of immigrants and refugees.

This comes at a time when more people of faith, family members, advocates, and community leaders are gathering outside detention centers to pray, bear witness, and call for change. From Delaney Hall in New Jersey to the Dilley Family Detention Center in Texas, these gatherings reflect growing concern over conditions inside our nation’s detention facilities. Those concerns are not abstract. According to reporting cited by Global Refuge, 52 people died in ICE custody between January 20, 2025, and June 4, 2026—the highest number of deaths in more than a decade.

The updated 2026 ICE National Detention Standards do include some important improvements. They require interpretation and translation services at no cost, call for earlier mental health evaluations, direct facilities to transfer individuals when their medical or mental health needs cannot be met, and establish clearer expectations for release, including access to a phone call, legal and medical resources, weather-appropriate clothing, and transportation when needed.

Those are meaningful steps, but they do not address the deeper problems within our immigration detention system.

Children and families can still be detained. Individuals can still be held for prolonged periods without a clear timeline for release. Solitary confinement remains an option for people living with serious mental illness. Questions also remain about access to adequate medical care, communication, language services, transparency, and meaningful accountability.

As Lutherans, we believe every person is created in the image of God. Human dignity is not earned through citizenship or immigration status—it is a gift from God. Any immigration system should be measured not only by how effectively it enforces the law, but by whether it protects life, keeps families together, ensures due process, and cares for those who are medically or mentally vulnerable.

For communities across the Southwest, immigration is not a distant policy debate. It affects families, congregations, schools, shelters, legal aid organizations, and ministries that accompany immigrants and refugees every day. When detention systems lack transparency or accountability, the consequences extend far beyond detention centers and into our neighborhoods.

Global Refuge also raises an important question for policymakers. As Congress invests billions of dollars into immigration enforcement, will it also invest in meaningful oversight and accountability? Increased funding without strong safeguards risks expanding a system that continues to leave vulnerable people at risk. Congress should pair enforcement resources with independent inspections, greater transparency, stronger protections for medically and mentally vulnerable individuals, and meaningful limits on the use of solitary confinement.

As people of faith, we cannot look away.

We can urge Congress to end family detention, strengthen oversight, ensure humane release practices, protect access to legal and medical services, and hold detention facilities accountable to the standards they are expected to follow. We can also support community-based alternatives to detention, which have consistently demonstrated that families can successfully participate in immigration proceedings without experiencing the trauma of prolonged detention.

Our immigration system should reflect the values we profess: dignity, justice, compassion, and hope. The question before our nation is not simply how much we spend on immigration enforcement, but what kind of immigration system we are choosing to build.

As Lutherans, we are called to stand alongside our neighbors, especially those who are vulnerable, and to advocate for public policies that protect human dignity, strengthen families, and reflect God’s love for all people.

Here is a recent update regarding recent Ninth Circuit of Appeals ruiling.