American Civil Liberties Union

See excerpts from actual letters sent to the ACLU from detainees in immigration detention >>

Immigration detention in the United States has reached crisis proportions. Over the last 15 years, the detention system more than quintupled in size, growing from less than 6,300 beds in 1996 to the current capacity of 33,400 beds. In 2010, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) held 363,000 immigrants in detention in over 250 facilities across the country. Among those locked up for months or years are survivors of torture, asylum seekers, victims of trafficking, families with small children, the elderly, individuals with serious medical and mental health conditions, and lawful permanent residents with longstanding family and community ties who are facing deportation because of old or minor crimes. Adding insult to injury, the people locked up in the patchwork of jails and prisons that make up the nation’s immigration detention system are exposed to myriad abuses – from a lack of adequate medical and mental health care that has led to numerous unnecessary deaths to the burgeoning problem of sexual abuse of detainees. 

Due Process

Scores of immigrants are detained without basic due process. Immigration detainees have no right to a lawyer, and an estimated 84% of detainees do not have attorneys. Nor are immigration detainees guaranteed a prompt bond hearing to determine whether their detention is even justified in the first place. In particular, immigrants convicted of essentially any crime—not matter how trivial—are subjected to mandatory detention during their immigration cases and categorically denied bond. The sad result is that thousands of immigrants are needlessly incarcerated, often for months or even years, without ever getting a day in court to determine whether they should even be detained in the first place.  

Costs

This massive lock-up system is a waste of taxpayer dollars. It costs anywhere from $122 to $166 to hold a detainee each day, or $44,500 to $60,590 each year. On any given night, DHS spends an average of 5.5 million taxpayer dollars on detention, and the administration has requested a record-breaking $2 billion for FY 2012. Yet in most cases, detention is unnecessary to achieve government goals. 

The idea that we need immigration detention to keep “dangerous criminal aliens” off our streets is a myth. Individuals in immigration detention are not serving criminal sentences—indeed, more than half of the people in immigration detention have never been convicted of a crime, and those with criminal records have overwhelmingly been convicted of non-violent or minor offenses. Mass detention is also unnecessary to ensure deportation, as many individuals can be monitored effectively through alternatives, such as telephonic and in-person reporting, curfews, and home visits. These alternatives, moreover, cost from as low as 30 cents up to 14 dollars per person per day.

This “lock’em up” mentality is contrary to common sense and our fundamental commitments to due process of law. In America, liberty should be the norm for everyone—and detention the last resort. 

Resources

The Math of Immigration Detention (2011 PDF, National Immigration Forum): The government spends billions of taxpayer dollars to detain immigrants, most of whom have no criminal record and who could be placed in less expensive alternatives to detention.

Detention Map (2011 resource, Detention Watch Network): Find out where detainees are being held in a place near you.

No End in Sight: Immigration Locked up for Years Without Hearings (2009 resource): The United States is not a country that arrests people and then detains them without a hearing for months or even years. Unfortunately, this is what is happening to thousands of immigrants held in detention centers across the country.

Deportation by Default (2010, PDF): a report on Mental Disability, Unfair Hearings, and Indefinite Detention in the U.S. Immigration System.

Careless Detention (2008, resource, Washington Post): a series on medical and mental health care in immigration detention

Detention Practice Advisories

Diouf Practice Advisory: Prolonged mandatory detention and bond eligibility pursuant to the 9th Circuit’s decision in Diouf

Diop and Leslie Practice Advisory: Prolonged mandatory detention and bond eligibility pursuant to the 3rd Circuit's decision in Diop and Leslie

Issue Brief: Prolonged immigration detention of individuals who are challenging removal

Testimony of Ahilan Arulanantham: Hearing on “Providing for the Detention of Dangerous Aliens” submitted to the Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement House Judiciary Committee on May 24, 2011

Mandatory Detention Tips: Challenging mandatory and prolonged detention pending final decision on removal (off-site)