This week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that they will be phasing visitations back in for people being held at their detention facilities. In-person visitations from family, friends, and advocates have been halted since the start of the pandemic based on Covid-19 concerns, according to ICE. Unlike ICE, the federal prison system allowed visitations to resume starting in October 2020.

The move is a promising sign for people being held by ICE and their loves ones, but the fact that it took so long reveals the extent to which the needs of ICE detainees are often ignored by the federal government.

The Takeaway speaks with Luis Romero, assistant professor in the department of Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies at Texas Christian University, with a focus on immigration enforcement, about the importance of visitation for those held in ICE detention and other changes that immigrant rights advocates want ICE to make.