An Unmet Need

At this time, there is only one detention center in the state of Indiana that is authorized by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain immigrants for more than 72 hours: the county jail in Brazil, IN, which is formally known as the Clay County Justice Center. Most of the immigrants who are arrested in Indiana are sent here first, where they have minimal contact with the outside world. Visitation programs such as ours that create a way for detained immigrants to communicate with the larger community have proven to be absolutely essential both for protecting the interests of immigrants in various states and for advocacy and reform.

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For many years, the Clay County jail served as a temporary staging area where immigrants were usually detained for 2-4 weeks before being sent to long-term facilities in nearby states like Illinois. However, in 2024, the jail expanded and quadrupled its capacity for holding immigrants. Today, it jails over 200 immigrants at any given time in 8 different cell blocks, including immigrants who were arrested in other states and transferred there.