The Obama administration has questioned the need to hold so many. It has asked Congress to cut the bed quota so it can use less costly measures, such as ankle bracelets, to ensure that detainees show up in court. Lawmakers have rejected the move.
The Obama administration has questioned the need to hold so many immigrants with regard to a high bed mandate. It has asked Congress to cut the bed quota so it can save taxpayer dollars, but lawmakers have rejected the move.
According to Bloomberg:
Texas Republican Michael McCaul, the Homeland Security Committee chairman in the House of Representatives, told ICE officials in February that they were “in clear violation of statute” when the detainee population fell to 30,773 after 2,200 were released to save money.
While the number held varies daily, the average follows the level set by Congress. Through mid-April, around the midpoint of the federal budget year, ICE detainees averaged 33,811 a day, according to records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Brian Hale, an ICE spokesman, declined to comment.
The Obama administration has questioned the need to hold so many. It has asked Congress to cut the bed quota so it can use less costly measures, such as ankle bracelets, to ensure that detainees show up in court. Lawmakers have rejected the move.
At an April hearing, then-Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, whose department includes ICE, called the mandate “artificial” and said reducing the required number of detainees would let the agency free low-risk offenders who could be on supervised release.
Prioritize Detentions
“We ought to be detaining according to our priorities, according to public-safety threats, level of offense and the like,” she said, “not an arbitrary bed number.”
In June, Representative Ted Deutch, a Florida Democrat, proposed an amendment to remove the requirement from next year’s appropriations bill.
“No other law-enforcement agencies have a quota for the number of people that they must keep in jail,” he said. “Mandating ICE detain 34,000 individuals a day does not secure our borders or make us safer.”
The proposal lost 232 to 190, on a largely party-line vote.
Several stories have been written about the bed mandate, and to read other stories regarding this bed mandate, see here:
Media Coverage of the ICE Detention Bed Mandate
November 25, 2013The immigration detention bed mandate, contained in U.S. Department of Homeland Security appropriations language, is considered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and some members of Congress to require ICE to fill 34,000 detention beds daily at an annual cost to taxpayers of $2 billion. This approach – which exists in no other law enforcement context – prevents ICE from saving taxpayer dollars by using less costly, effective alternatives when detention is not necessary, and guarantees a specific – and arbitrary – detention level, regardless of actual need.
Houston Chronicle: “Shah: Immigration detention quotas must be stopped” (11/22/2013)…..Page 2
NPR: “Little-Known Immigration Mandate Keeps Detention Beds Full” (11/19/2013)……….Page 3
MSNBC: “Immigrant detention and the ‘bed mandate’” (10/26/2013)……..……….…Video (linked)
MSNBC: “Immigration reform could still leave thousands in detention” (10/25/2013)………….Page 5
The Hill: “The outdated immigrant detention system” (10/18/2013)…..…………………………Page 6
Marketplace: “‘Bed mandate’ ensures 34,000 immigrants are detained each day”
(10/18/2013)………………………………………………………………………………………….Page 7Univision: “Cuota de detención de indocumentados” (10/14/2013)……………..…….Video (linked)
Washington Post (front page): “Controversial quota drives immigration detention boom”
(10/13/2013)…………………………………………………………………………………………….Page 8Bloomberg View: “The Madness of U.S. Immigration Policy, Continued” (9/26/2013)………Page 11
Bloomberg: “Congress Mandates Jail Beds for 34,000 Immigrants as Private Prisons Profit”
(9/24/2013)………………………………………………………………..…………………….Page 12Reason.com: “DHS Requirement Keeping 34,000 Immigrants Locked Up Daily To Continue”
(7/9/2013)…..……………………………………………………………………………………Page 19Reuters: “Insight: Congress keeps detention quota despite immigration debate” (7/8/2013)…Page 20
The Hill: “Detention centers releases may have silver lining” (2/28/2013)………………………Page 22
For more information, please contact:
Joshua Breisblatt, National Immigration Forum, jbreisblatt@immigrationforum.org
Ruthie Epstein, American Civil Liberties Union, repstein@dcaclu.org
Madhu Grewal, Detention Watch Network, mgrewal@detentionwatchnetwork.org
Karen Lucas, American Immigration Lawyers Association, klucas@aila.org
Royce Murray, National Immigrant Justice Center, RMurray@heartlandalliance.org
Brittney Nystrom, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, bnystrom@lirs.org
Katharina Obser, Human Rights First, obserk@humanrightsfirst.org