Welcome, you reached the homepage of Advocate Visitors with Immigrants in Detention (AVID) in the Chihuahuan Desert. We are distinct from the UK migrant visitation program with a similar name. 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. Our activities entail:
- visiting individuals confined in immigration detention
- corresponding with detained migrants as pen pals
- advocating for immigrant’s rights, and
- working to end immigration detention.
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. Please participate in our current action items.
Current Press Releases
- #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
Recent Letters of Concern
- 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.
