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‘Orange Is The New Black' Featured an Immigrant Detention Hotline; ICE Shut It Down, Groups Say

"We are heartbroken to hear about the shutdown of this hotline," said Vicci Martinez, who plays "Daddy" in "Orange Is The New Black"

A toll-free hotline designed to help immigrants in detention centers get legal counsel was shut down by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after the number was mentioned in the acclaimed Netflix series "Orange Is The New Black," according to the California-based group that runs it.

The Freedom for Immigrants’ National Immigration Detention Hotline has been an available resource to people in immigration detention since 2013, but it was shut down on Aug. 7, about two weeks after the premiere of the last season of "Orange Is The New Black," the organization said in a press release.

The hotline was featured in various episodes, NBC News reports

“The timing of the shutdown is deeply concerning. Freedom for Immigrants is being targeted for exposing abuses in detention and amplifying the stories of people suffering in the system,” Christina Fialho, an attorney and executive director of Freedom for Immigrants, said in a statement.

An ICE official told NBC News in a statement that "all ICE facilities provide detainees with reasonable and equitable access to telephones."

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