San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial

By the ankle

New detention reforms make sense

October 17, 2009

Immigration reform doesn't just mean protecting the borders and providing illegal immigrants with a path to earned legalization. It also means improving the current system for how we detain those illegal immigrants who have been apprehended and might be on their way to being deported.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, more than 350,000 immigrants are detained each year in this country.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano recently announced a package of reforms aimed at making detention centers around the country safer and more efficient while finding other ways, such as ankle bracelets, to keep track of non-violent offenders awaiting court dates. Napolitano also wants to separate immigrants with criminal records from those who are simply seeking asylum.

This all seems like good common sense. But we learned long ago that is a commodity often missing in the world of immigration enforcement. That is all the more reason that we should welcome such innovations whenever they're proposed, and encourage those officials who propose them.

The idea of tracking the whereabouts of non-violent offenders with ankle bracelets is particularly intriguing. First, it would surely save taxpayers a bundle of money since using bracelets is, according to Napolitano, about one-tenth as costly as incarceration. But, more than that, by making the system less intrusive in people's lives while they await an immigration hearing, we increase the chances that people will be willing to cooperate and not attempt to flee. Besides, for many years, the government hasn't bothered to fully enforce its detention laws, and this could make it easier to do so.

Napolitano is onto something here. We can't just be tough on immigration enforcement. We also have to be smart about it. Reforming the detention system is a step in that direction.

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