No Conviction, No Freedom: Immigration Authorities Locked 13,000 In Limbo

First Posted: 01/27/2012 11:57 am Updated: 01/27/2012 12:39 pm

WASHINGTON -- On a single day this past fall, the United States government held 13,185 people in immigration detention who had not been convicted of a crime, some of whom will not be charged with one, according to information The Huffington Post obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Instead, at a cost of roughly 2 million taxpayer dollars per day, the men and women were detained while immigration authorities sorted out their fates.

This case stands in stark contrast to the stated goal of immigration policy under the administration of President Barack Obama: to detain and deport unauthorized immigrants who've been convicted of crimes.

"ICE is focused on smart, effective immigration enforcement that prioritizes the removal of convicted criminal aliens, fugitives, recent illegal border crossers and egregious immigration law violators, such as those who have been previously removed from the United States," Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Nicole Navas said in a statement. "ICE's enforcement approach is enhancing public safety in communities around the country."

As the GOP presidential contest moves to Florida -- a key primary state and home to 1.5 million Latino voters -- the issue of immigration policy will move to center stage. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has positioned himself to appear as the candidate who is toughest on immigration, arguing that any of the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants here without documentation should be removed regardless of circumstances -- a policy that would jam already overcrowded detention centers. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, meanwhile, has argued that law-abiding people with deep ties to their community and a long tenure in the United States should be given the opportunity to stay.

The FOIA request for information on all immigrants in detention on Oct. 3, 2011, turned up a list of nearly 32,300. Forty percent of those held by ICE had not been convicted of a crime, nor were they awaiting criminal trial. Despite what the term "illegal immigration" implies, simply being in the country without status is a civil, not a criminal, offense.

Rapists and murderers, frequently cited as the main unauthorized immigrants ICE is trying to remove, made up a far smaller percentage of those held that day than the innocent, traffic violators or low-level drug offenders, according to ICE's crime breakdown.

"The fact is, we're not deporting huge numbers of rapists and murderers," said Emily Tucker, director of policy and advocacy for the Detention Watch Network, which pushes for limiting detention and deportation. "They would like us to think that, but that isn't what is going on."

Locking people up is big business. The Corrections Corporation of America, which gives heavily to both parties, is explicit about the connection between immigrant detention policy and the private prison company's bottom line. "[T]he demand for our correctional and detention facilities and services ... could be adversely affected by changes in existing criminal or immigration laws, crime rates in jurisdictions in which we operate, the relaxation of criminal or immigration enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction, sentencing or deportation practices, and the decriminalization of certain activities that are currently proscribed by criminal laws or the loosening of immigration laws," the company wrote in an analysis for investors filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "Immigration reform laws which are currently a focus for legislators and politicians at the federal, state and local level also could materially adversely impact us."

ICE has been publicly attempting to shift away from detaining innocent immigrants, and has implemented new policies to increase prosecutorial discretion. Separate data provided by ICE indicates progress in that direction. The percentage of non-criminals in detention decreased significantly between the 2008 and 2011 fiscal years, from 71 percent to 54 percent, according to that data, and deportation of criminal immigrants has increased from previous years.

ICE officials never claimed they would stop detaining and deporting low-level offenders and non-criminals entirely, despite policy changes intended to increase the proportion of dangerous criminals in the system. In a June 2011 memo from ICE Director John Morton, he emphasized that "nothing in this memorandum should be construed to prohibit or discourage the apprehension, detention or removal of other aliens unlawfully in the United States."

Still, the administration has taken pains to neutralize its record-breaking deportation rates, which have earned them ire from immigration advocates. The continuing detention of tens of thousands of noncriminal and low-level offenders works against that effort, threatening to undermine political support for the administration among the immigrant community.

On Oct. 3, detainees considered the most dangerous, referred to as Level 1, made up 31 percent of those kept in detention facilities. Level 1, according to the memo, is composed of the highest-priority detainees "who pose a danger to national security or a risk to public safety," including for suspected terrorism, violent crimes and gang activities.

Authorities held 9,867 people classified as Level 1 in detention facilities Oct. 3. Of those, a fifth were held for violent crimes, including sexual assault. But more than a third were locked up for drug crimes, largely marijuana- or cocaine-related, or driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

Level 3 is made up of fugitives from immigration law with non-violent criminal convictions and illegal reentrants to the country. Half the people in this group were being held for a DUI or a lower-level drug violation. Another sixth were held for non-booze related traffic offenses.

No Conviction, No Freedom: Immigration Authorities Locked 13,000 In Limbo