Welcome, to the homepage of Advocate Visitors with Immigrants in Detention (AVID) in the Chihuahuan Desert. Centered in Las Cruces, with volunteers in El Paso and surrounding communities, AVID in the Chihuahuan Desert is a migrant rights advocacy and immigration detention visitation organization.¹

As tens of thousands of individuals are confined in immigration detention every day, we are always seeking additional volunteers to help end the isolation of confinement.

Recent Letters of Concern

• Tell Lujan Grisham to end ICE detention transfers in NM (6/17/2020) - In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, called on organizations and individuals to sign-on to a letter requesting that New Mexico Governor Lujan Grisham immediately stop transfers into and between ICE contract detention facilities in New Mexico. The letter was delivered June 25, 2020 and we are no longer accepting signatures. 20 organizations and 99 ... Read moreTell Lujan Grisham to end ICE detention transfers in NM
• Continued negligence by ICE and private contractors requires the immediate release of those held in ICE detention in NM and El Paso, TX (5/28/2020) - In solidarity with Millions for Prisoners, SURJ, Santa Fe Dreamers Project, and other New Mexico organizations, and on behalf of the FreeThemAll El Paso Coalition, we sent the following letter to county, state, and federal elected officials in New Mexico and Texas to raise concerns about COVID-19 and call for universal release of people detained ... Read moreContinued negligence by ICE and private contractors requires the immediate release of those held in ICE detention in NM and El Paso, TX
• Call to immediately address impending public health care disaster of ICE detention in New Mexico and El Paso, TX (5/14/2020) - The following letter raised concerns about COVID-19 and called for universal release from ICE detention. The letter was sent to federal and state elected officials in New Mexico and Texas.

Current Press Releases

• AVID July 2021 Position Statement (7/8/2021) - AVID released a position statement July 2, 2021. The statement is built around four points. In summary, we: Call on the Biden Administration to close OCPC for a history of violating DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s foundational principle of not tolerating the mistreatment of individuals in civil immigration detention. Request that Congress cut funding for immigration ... Read moreAVID July 2021 Position Statement
• Process by Torment (1/2/2021) - AVID and Innovation Law Lab released a report detailing the immigration experiences of individuals who were detained at the Otero County Processing Center. The report covers pre-ICE Detention (Customs and Border Protection custody and Migrant Protection Protocols), experiences in ICE Detention, and Legal Issues that arose while detained. Download Report Executive Summary (Descargar el Resumen ... Read moreProcess by Torment
• Pains and Profits of Immigration Imprisonment (11/25/2020) - AVID in collaboration with professor Neil Harvey (NMSU) and students Emily Durkin (NMSU), Daniela Navarro Verdugo (Cal Poly Pomona), Brennan Ramsey (NMSU), Fernanda Reyes (U. Kansas), and Avigail Turima Romo (Columbia) released a report on the condition of migrants detained at the Otero County Processing Center. The report, supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) Research ... Read morePains and Profits of Immigration Imprisonment
• #NoTieneMadre: Mothers demand ICE release people from detention for Mother’s Day (5/8/2020) - For Immediate Release El Paso, TX — Mothers from the El Paso/Juarez border region will be sending cards, notes and letters to loved ones inside ICE detention centers this Mother’s Day, Sunday May 10. Mothers are banding together this Mother’s Day to ask ICE to release their loved ones imprisoned in detention centers amid the ... Read more#NoTieneMadre: Mothers demand ICE release people from detention for Mother’s Day
• PRESS RELEASE: El Paso Community Members, Immigrant Rights Groups and Activists Call for the Release of All People in Detention (4/30/2020) - For Immediate Release Press Contact: dmscelpaso@gmail.com El Paso, TX– On Thursday April, 30, 2020 at 2:30 p.m. the Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee, Movement Mujeres, Advocate Visitors with Immigrants in Detention, Santa Fe Dreamers Project, Cosecha, Anti-Deportation Squad, and other El Paso community members and activists held a caravan car rally around the County Detention Facility, ... Read morePRESS RELEASE: El Paso Community Members, Immigrant Rights Groups and Activists Call for the Release of All People in Detention
• PRESS RELEASE: Allies Join Campaign to Call for the Release of Families in Detention (4/3/2020) - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Friday, April 3, 2020                          Contacts: avid@chihuahuan.org, dmscelpaso@gmail.com El Paso, TX– Now more than ever, members of our beloved community fear for the well-being of their loved ones currently detained at the El Paso Service Processing Center in East El Paso, Texas, amid the global pandemic ... Read morePRESS RELEASE: Allies Join Campaign to Call for the Release of Families in Detention