Detention
The Number of People in ICE Detention with Criminal Records Continues to Drop
As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has expanded immigration capacity across the country in recent years, the number of people held in its facilities with actual criminal records dropped, according to a new report from Syracuse University’s TRAC Center. Since October 2017, the number of… Read More
Detention of Pregnant Women Increases 52% Under the Trump Administration
The rate at which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained pregnant women increased 52% during the first two years of the Trump administration, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released last week. 2,098 pregnant women were detained by ICE in 2018, compared to… Read More
ICE Revises Its Standards for Some Detention Facilities
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently published an update to its National Detention Standards (NDS), which govern the treatment of people held in facilities that rent some of their beds to ICE, often city or county jails. The new standards may weaken some protections for up to 20%… Read More
Prosecutions from Workplace Immigration Raids Overwhelm Mississippi Legal System
The consequences of record-breaking workplace immigration raids are still overwhelming the legal system in southern Mississippi. After the Trump administration repeatedly threatened mass raids last summer, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) entered seven Mississippi food processing plants in August, detaining 687… Read More
California Bans Private Prisons, Eliminating Immigration Detention Centers That Incarcerate 4,000 People
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law on Friday that will phase out private prisons—including federal immigration detention centers—throughout the state. The new law, AB 32, prohibits the state government and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from creating, modifying, or renewing prison contracts with private companies beginning… Read More
Pennsylvania Should Widen Access to Justice for People in Immigration Detention
People in immigration detention who are represented by an attorney are more likely to receive a positive outcome in immigration court than those that face judges alone. Unfortunately, people who arrive in the U.S. from other countries are not guaranteed representation even though having one can be the difference between… Read More
Federal Court Blocks Error-Prone ICE Deportation Program
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested millions of people based on unreliable electronic databases. In a recent court decision with nationwide impact, a federal judge in California ruled that parts of this mass deportation program—called Secure Communities—are unconstitutional. Through Secure… Read More
Cameroonian’s Death in ICE Custody Underscores Problems with Immigration Detention
Nebane Abienwi, a 37-year-old man who had recently fled war-torn Cameroon, died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody on Tuesday. His passing—the first of the new fiscal year that began on October 1—follows a string of tragic and unnecessary deaths in ICE detention that… Read More
Federal Judge Says DHS Must Keep Its Promise to Protect Children in Immigration Detention
A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s attempts to significantly undo the Flores Settlement Agreement, which mandates certain protections for children held in immigration detention. The changes to the settlement would have allowed the administration to hold immigrant children and their parents indefinitely in jail-like settings. Federal Judge… Read More
State Governments Should Step In to Provide Oversight of Detention Facilities
Immigration enforcement may be a federal responsibility, but state governments have a great deal of power over the conditions under which immigrants are detained. At a time when over-crowded detention facilities are failing to meet even the minimum standards of humane treatment, states must step up and exercise their authority to improve a situation that has become truly dire. Read More
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