ICE shut down a hotline for detained immigrants after it was featured on 'Orange Is the New Black'
Source: LA Times
In the fifth episode of the last season of Netflixs Orange Is the New Black, the character Maritza, who has been languishing in an immigrant detention center, finds out about a toll-free hotline she can call to get a free lawyer. As shes rejoicing, another character, Gloria, cuts her off.
Gloria warns Maritza: You have to be careful, though. Apparently if they figure out that youre using the hotline, Big Brother shuts it down.
Thats exactly what happened, advocates say. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shut down a real hotline for detained immigrants run by the California group Freedom for Immigrants less than two weeks after it was prominently featured on the show.
Freedom for Immigrants, which runs visitation programs in detention centers across the country, responded Thursday with a cease-and-desist letter charging that the termination is a violation of free speech and amounts to retaliation by the government in an attempt to silence one of its prominent critics. Six actors from Orange Is the New Black and more than 100 organizations signed a letter to acting ICE Director Matthew Albence demanding that the line be restored.
Read more: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-23/ice-shut-down-a-hotline-for-detained-immigrants-after-it-was-featured-on-orange-is-the-new-black
This absolute fuckery is beyond words.