House Panel Seeks Way Forward on Immigration Detention Management

December 10, 2009

Until Immigration Reform is in place, System will Continue to be Overburdened

Washington, DC – Today, the House Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing on immigration detention reforms. The hearing, titled “Moving Toward More Effective Immigration Detention Management” joined the growing chorus of voices calling for urgent action to improve the scandal-plagued immigration detention system. Recent data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, and reports by Human Rights Watch and the DHS Office of Inspector General informed the American public on the disruptive, inefficient use of transfers of immigration detainees to remote facilities far from their families and legal representatives.  Following is a statement by Brittney Nystrom, Senior Legal Advisor to the National Immigration Forum, who testified at today’s hearing. Testimony submitted to Congress is available at http://tinyurl.com/detentionbn

The time is now to reform our deteriorating immigration detention system into a system that reflects the American values of justice, dignity, accountability and due process. We welcome oversight by the House Homeland Security Committee at this critical juncture in how we treat immigration detainees. 

DHS has recently committed to much-needed detention reforms.  We believe that to achieve these reforms, ICE must improve how it determines when detention is necessary, and when a detainee merits release or enrollment in a cost-saving alternative to detention program.  ICE must also transition to a detention system that is neither unsafe nor degrading for detainees.

Despite the civil, non-punitive basis of immigration detention, ICE houses its detainees in jails replete with barbed wire, prison uniforms, armed guards, and shackles.  Yet the vast majority of immigration detainees have not been convicted of any crime but only accused of violating our civil immigration laws.  It simply does not make sense, and is extremely costly to the U.S. taxpayer, to treat these individuals the same as we treat violent criminals. 

These reforms can only go so far, however.  As long as our immigration laws are out of step with the modern 21st century reality of economic and social integration across borders, the task of managing immigration detention will be much more complicated and occur on a much greater scale than is necessary.  Until we have comprehensive immigration reform, Congress should ensure that ICE transitions to a detention system that is right-sized, safe, humane and efficient.

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