PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
September 30, 2026
Contact: press@alianzaamericas.org / (773) 638-4278
Chicago, IL. On the 30th anniversary of the implementation of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), Alianza Americas, a network of 55 Latin American and Caribbean Immigrant-led organizations, is telling the United States Congress: enough is enough.
No more attacks on the lives, dignity, and rights of immigrants and their families. We urgently call for the repeal of this law, which has brought death, torn apart families and communities, and fueled hateful rhetoric that demonizes immigrants while generating billions of dollars in profits for prison corporations and manufacturers of military technology. IIRIRA brought a criminalizing approach to immigration enforcement that is now being used to label non-citizens as a threat, when in practice we represent exactly the opposite. We are contributors, we are hope, and we are family.
What we are witnessing today—armed immigration raids, mass detention, collaboration between local police and immigration authorities, expedited deportations, family separation, and deaths in detention—is not new, nor is it the creation of a single administration. It is the outcome of an immigration enforcement infrastructure built, funded, and expanded by Congress and administrations of both parties over the past three decades. Between 2025 and 2026 alone, DHS received combined appropriations exceeding $390 billion. Unless Congress dismantles the laws and funding structures that have enabled this system to grow, this machinery of detention and deportation will remain in place long after the current administration is gone.
As criminal detention has decreased because fewer crimes are being committed, corporations that run private detention facilities are benefiting from the expansion of immigration enforcement. Over the past 30 years, established giants in the private prison industry—such as Corrections Corporation of America (now CoreCivic) and GEO Group—not only continued operating but expanded dramatically, capitalizing on and profiting from the expansion of mandatory detention provisions introduced by the law.
There is no precise official figure for the total number of people impacted by IIRIRA since Bill Clinton signed it into law in 1996; however, deportations and removals increased dramatically. Agreements allowing collaboration between local law enforcement and immigration authorities have tripled. As of September 25, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has signed 2,589 memoranda of agreement under the 287(g) program across the United States.
A better immigration policy is possible, but it requires dismantling the laws that built the system we have today. Congress must begin by repealing IIRIRA and replacing policies rooted in detention, deportation, and punishment with laws that address the root causes of migration and recognize the United States’ moral responsibilities, as well as the economic and social contributions of immigrants.
Thirty years later, it is time to build an immigration system that protects human dignity, strengthens families and communities, and recognizes migration as a shared regional reality that enforcement alone will not solve. Immigration law does not need to follow the IIRIRA stance; other approaches are possible. We need to start building the basis of a different immigration system.
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Alianza Americas is a transnational network of migrant-led organizations in the United States. We advocate for social justice, equity, and human rights in the Americas.
