"No Shelter" is a series of short, experimental nonfiction films that explore how the detention of migrant children has been rebranded as Shelter, Care and Service provision. The films are made in collaboration with survivors, whistleblowers and activists who are struggling to dimantle all forms of incarceration and to envision real systems of care.
Since 2003, over 340,000 migrant children have been detained in the United States in a network of over 100 secret facilities, distributed around the United States and often situated in residential neighborhoods. It is a lucrative market, receiving over $1 Billion per year in federal funding
One of the facilities in Chicago, operated by Heartland Alliance, was the site of the first large-scale COVID breakout in a detention facility in the US. A year later, a series of instances of self-harm , attempted suicide and escape attempts were reported in the news. These facilities are in perpetual crisis, because the system of detention is the crisis.
We believe media can be vehicle for mobilizing imagination, expanding what is thinkable and moving us into action - but only if it is linked with struggle. We are committed to dismantling the system of migrant child detention, and the total abolition of prisons and borders, regardess of how humanitarian they might claim to be.