Immigrant Detention Doubles Since 1999

Report Measures Effects of Increased Enforcement, Law Changes
By Daphne Eviatar 12/2/09 3:14 PM


The number of immigrants in detention in the United States has more than doubled since 1999, according to a new report from a government data research organization released Wednesday. The report, based primarily on information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, also finds that ICE has increasingly transferred detainees more often and to facilities farther from where they were apprehended, disrupting contact with family members and attorneys attempting to represent them in their deportation cases.

ICE detains people suspected of violating civil immigration laws, not criminal laws. Still, in fiscal year 2009, ICE imprisoned 369,483 immigrant detainees — more than twice the number it held in FY 1999. In fact, according to an October report from ICE, the agency now operates the largest detention and supervised release program in the country. Although the average length of detention is 30 days, that includes those apprehended at the border and sent home within a day, which is about 25 percent of detainees. According to ICE, about 2100 immigrants are detained for a year or more.

The swelling of the immigrant detainee population is the result of changes in the law and increasingly aggressive enforcement measures. In 1996, Congress changed the immigration law to require the detention of certain categories of immigrants, such as those convicted of crimes, including misdemeanors, and all applicants for asylum. These immigrants are not entitled to a bond hearing, as criminal defendants are, to determine whether they’re actually a flight risk. According to a recent ICE review of the detention system, only eleven percent of immigrant detainees in custody had committed violent crimes. “The majority of the population is characterized as low custody, or having a low propensity for violence,â€