Bill headed to Congress will provide funds to better house detained illegals

June 11, 2007 03:12 PM PDT




WASHINGTON (AP) - The Homeland Security spending bill headed to the House floor this week adds $11.3 million to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement budget for alternative detention programs and directs the agency to house families in facilities that are more like homes than prisons.

Several civil liberties and immigrant and refugees groups have called for ICE to use more alternatives to detention for families, refugees and people seeking asylum, rather than placing them in detention centers.

One family detention center in Hutto, Texas, near Austin, was formerly a prison and was the subject of a lawsuit by civil liberties groups who said its jail-like conditions were unfair to families and children held there. The suit is set to go to trial in August.

A Texas judge has criticized the facility and ICE for spending taxpayer money on the facility without writing final regulations or using a previous court case for guidance on detaining families there.

The $36.3 billion House Homeland Security spending bill would increase spending for immigrant detention alternatives to about $55 million.

The measure directs ICE to give families priority in alternatives to detention programs that use electronic monitoring, telephone call-ins and supervision to ensure people show up for detention hearings. The Intensive Supervision Appearance Program recently reported 93 percent appearance rate at court hearings, the House spending bill says.

The committee says in the bill that families with children should not be housed in jail-like settings, denied access to recreation or basic education instruction.

"What we hope is that ICE will start using alternatives for families that don't need to be detained," said Michelle Brane, detention and asylum project director for Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children. The commission and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services issued a report in February criticizing family detention centers.

The House also provided ICE $1 million to spend on a pilot program in which a third party would have oversight of its compliance with detention standards at facilities run by private contractors.

Also in the bill, the House Appropriations Committee recommended Citizenship and Immigration Services cap fees charged to large families applying for immigration benefits such as citizenship or green cards. It also recommends charging lower fees for children because their background checks are cheaper to do.

By SUZANNE GAMBOA Associated Press Writer

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