Featured Issue: Immigration Detention and Alternatives to Detention
Update: On March 14, 2025, AILA released a statement in response to the Trump Administration resuming the practice of detaining families pending their court proceedings in the detention facility in Karnes County, TX, and indicating its plans to use a second facility in Dilley, TX, for family detention.
AILA calls on Congress to significantly reduce and phase out the use of immigration detention for immigration enforcement purposes. Detention is costly, leads to inefficiencies in processing cases, and has a long track record of human rights abuses. Community-based case management services and legal representation is more humane and should be offered to noncitizens to support their compliance of immigration obligations.
Contents
By the Numbers
- Book Outs/Books In: The Office of Homeland Security Statistics provides data on the number of migrants who are released from CBP custody to proceed with removal cases, transfers to ICE detention, and transfers to Health & Human Services (HHS). It also provides initial book-in data on ICE detention.
- Detention: For FY2024, Congress has provided funding to detain a daily average of 41,500 noncitizens at a cost of approximately $3.4 billion. During FY2023, Congress provided funding to detain a daily average of 34,000 noncitizens at a cost of approximately $2.9 billion. A December 2024 ICE memo in response to Congressional requests for information noted that increasing detention capacity by more than 60,000 beds will require a funding increase of approximately $3.2 billion dollars.
- Current Population: Per ICE, on December 8, 2024, there were 39,062 people in custody and on January 22, 2025, there were 39,703. For future data, see bi-weekly data posted on the ICE website under “Fiscal Year 2025 statistics” here.
- Daily Costs: Projected average daily costs of detaining an adult noncitizen: $164.65. The actual cost of detaining a noncitizen varies based on geographic region, length of detention, facility type, etc. A recent ICE memo in response to the costs of expanding detention noted that they expect a 5% inflationary increase from FY2024 enacted bed costs.
- Deaths at Adult Detention Centers - AILA supplies a continually updated list of ICE press releases announcing deaths in adult immigration detention. Note: there can be delays in ICE’s reporting of deaths and there have been instances of seriously ill individuals released from ICE custody, whose deaths are not included in this list.
- ICE Alternatives to Detention: For FY2024, Congress provided approximately $470 million in funding for ICE’s Alternatives to Detention (ADT) program. This is an increase from approximately $443 million in FY2023 in which 194,427 people were enrolled.
- Daily Costs of ICE ATD: Average daily cost for participants enrolled in ICE’s Intensive Appearance Supervision Program (ISAP): $8.00
- Community-Based Case Management: The FEMA/CRCL Case Management Pilot Program (CMPP), also known as the “Alternatives to Detention Grant Program,” received $15 million in continued funding for FY2024. Prior to January 20, 2025, it was operating in five cities.
- Average daily cost of providing case management for individual family members by a community-based organization (2018 pilot): $14.05
- Legal Representation: There is no right to a government-provided attorney in immigration court and 70 percent of detained persons face proceedings without counsel. There is a pilot program that serves adult individuals with mental disabilities. Congress did not provide any funding for adult legal representation for FY2024.
AILA’s Recommendations to Congress
- Reduce detention funding to at least 25,000 average daily population or less.
- Explicitly prohibit detention funding from being used to detain families and children in custodial settings.
- Provide continued funding community-based case management programs outside of ICE such as the Case Management Pilot Program (CMPP) operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL)
- Conduct robust oversight of past congressional appropriations transparency requirements and continue to require ICE to disclose and publish information relating to detention contracts, inspection process and reports, detention data, and policies for the alternatives to detention program.
Background
Created in 2002, Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) has over 22,000 full-time employees, with a total annual budget of more than $9 billion. The agency has three core operational directorates: Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA). Housed within the Department of Homeland Security, ICE joins Customs & Border Protection (CBP) in making up the nation’s largest police force.
Immigration enforcement, including taking noncitizens into custody, is the largest single area of responsibility for ICE. ICE detains noncitizens arrested from the interior of the country and those transferred from the border. Twenty-years ago, the average daily population of detained immigrants was approximately 7,000. During the first Trump Administration, it reached a height of 50,000 average daily population. Regardless of the circumstances of their first encounter with authorities, noncitizens are detained across America in a sprawling network of private and public detention facilities. Most of these facilities operate through contracts between ICE (or, less commonly, the U.S. Marshals Service) and localities for the purposes of detaining noncitizens. In some cases, localities later sub-contract services for operating detention facilities to private prison companies. In other instances, localities reserve space in local, county, or state jails and prisons for the purposes of detaining immigrants. In all cases, localities are financially incentivized to detain individuals to increase profit margins from contracts. One key part of the financial equation is the use of noncitizens to clean and maintain facilities in exchange for $1 a day.
Immigration detention facilities, regardless of the type of contracts, have been the sites of serious and repeated allegations of abuse, including allegations of sexual assault, violations of religious freedom, medical neglect, and the punitive use of solitary confinement. In 2020, the U.S. had the highest number of deaths in ICE adult detention since 2005. Several deaths in custody have been found to have been preventable. Conditions in ICE custody have been described as “barbaric” and “negligent” by DHS experts.
Civil immigration detention works mainly to facilitate deportation. While ICE has the authority to allow most noncitizens to continue with their removal cases on the outside of custody, it often defaults to detention based on alleged “flight risk or threat to public safety.” The vagueness of these concepts frequently works against the liberty interests of noncitizens and there is generally a lack of uniformity when it comes to these discretionary releases. Only a certain portion of the overall noncitizen population must be detained under “mandatory detention” laws and even those individuals may be released based on certain exceptions.
Lastly, because immigration detention is considered “civil,” indigent noncitizens are not generally provided counsel. As a result, representation rates for noncitizens in detention are as low as 14% and directly correlate with the ability to secure release or long-term protection.
Reports and Briefings
- "No Human Being Should Be Held There": The Mistreatment of LGBTQ and HIV-Positive People in U.S. Federal Immigration Jails
- Physicians for Human Rights: Endless Nightmare”: Torture and Inhuman Treatment in Solitary Confinement in U.S. Immigration Detention
- Harvard University Press Release: New Report Documents the Mental and Physical Harm Experienced by Children in Immigration Detention
- AILA Policy Brief: Case Management: An Effective and Humane Alternative to Detention - November 2, 2022
- AILA Policy Brief: Moving The Nation Forward by Leaving Immigration Detention Behind - March 25, 2021
- The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA): Emergency Medical Responses at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention Centers in California -November 29, 2023
- Notable findings include: a number of EMS calls for pregnant people at Otay Mesa; a shockingly low number of 911 calls for psychiatric emergencies, despite the high number of complaints of serious mental health issues in the detention centers; nearly a third of all detained people had an abnormal vital sign when EMS encountered them, a disturbing trend given the association between abnormal vital signs and deaths in ICE custody; and finally, the number of emergency calls that the authors could find in EMS systems was significantly lower than the number of ICE-reported medical emergencies, a serious discrepancy that calls into question why ICE facilities aren’t calling 911 more frequently when there is an emergency happening.
- Black Alliance for Just Immigration: Uncovering the Truth: Violence and Abuse Against Black Migrants in Immigration Detention - October 2022
- Oxfam America and the Tahirih Justice Center: Surviving Deterrence: How U.S. Asylum Deterrence Policies Normalize Gender-Based Violence, October 11, 2022
- Law Professor César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, TED Talk, The US can move past immigration prisons—and towards justice, July 27, 2022
- Alternatives to Detention: An Overview – American Immigration Council Fact Sheet, March 17, 2022
- Community Support for Migrants Navigating the U.S. Immigration System - February 26, 2021
- American Immigration Council Special Report: "Measuring In Absentia Removal in Immigration Court," Ingrid Eagly, Esq. and Steven Shafer, Esq. - January 28, 2021
Government Reports
- DHS Office of Inspector General: website has search function to view ICE detention audits, inspections, and evaluations completed by DHS OIG.
- ICE FOIA Library: Holds detention facility contracts, facility reviews, among other required posting information.
- U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO): Agency within the legislative branch that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. Website has search function to view audits done of ICE detention programs and policies.
- Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman Annual Report– June 20, 2023. As of January 29, 2025, the 2024 Annual Report had not been published.
- DHS Office of Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Recommendation and Investigation Memo Collection: CRCL investigates abuses in immigration detention. CRCL issues recommendations to the relevant DHS Component aimed at addressing any civil rights or civil liberties concerns identified as part of its investigation.
- DHS Advisory Committee Final Report on Family Residential Centers - September 30, 2016.
Legislative and Administrative Advocacy
- The Case Management Pilot Program: A Humane, Effective Alternative to Immigration Detention - August 15, 2024
- Senators Send Letter Urging Appropriators to Include Funding for ATD - May 15, 2024
- AILA Statement to Senate on ICE's Use of Solitary Confinement - April 16, 2024
- AILA Sends Letter to White House Opposing Family Detention – March 13, 2023
- AILA and Partners Send Letter to White House Urging Closure of ICE Detention Sites - November 21, 2022
- Members of Congress Send Letter to DHS on Access to Counsel - November 3, 2022
- Over 100 House Democrats Send Letter to DHS to Halt Immigration Detention - March 10, 2022
Browse the Featured Issue: Immigration Detention and Alternatives to Detention collection
DHS CRCL Released FY2016 Annual Report to Congress
DHS’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) issued its annual report to Congress on its priorities and activities for FY2016.
The Deported: Immigrants Uprooted from the Country They Call Home
Human Rights Watch provides a report with immigration arrests and deportations in 2017, and details the often-wrenching human impact on undocumented immigrants, their families, and their communities. The report draws heavily on 43 in-depth interviews with long-term immigrants deported since 2016.
When Law Professors Attack: Four False Assumptions in the WSJ Op-Ed
Apparently, it is now fashionable to blame immigration lawyers for the ills of the U.S. immigration system. It started in October when Attorney General Jeff Sessions, railed against the “dirty immigration lawyers,“ baselessly charging that they are exploiting loopholes (also known as “the law&
DHS OIG Report on USCIS Award of Family Case Management Program Contract
DHS OIG released a report on USCIS’s Award of the Family Case Management Program (FCMP) Contract to GEO Care, LLC, a subsidiary of the GEO Group, Inc, which determined ICE properly awarded FCMP contracts in compliance with federal requirements. (OIG-18-22, 11/30/17)
NIJC Report: "What Kind Of Miracle ..." Violation Of Immigrants’ Right To Counsel at Cibola
The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) released a report entitled “What Kind of Miracle” documenting the wretched history and due process failings at the 1,100-bed Cibola County Correctional Facility in New Mexico.
ICE Memo on ERO Support of the EOIR’s Legal Orientation Program
The Washington Post obtained an ICE memo with guidance on best practices in support of EOIR’s Legal Orientation Program (LOP), stating that LOP attendees “… complete their cases faster than detainees who have not received LOP” and includes a list of the 37 ICE facilities where LOP operates.
Two Business Immigration Lawyers in “Baby Jail”: A Report from Dilley
“I can barely handle being a prisoner here….“
AIM: Fighting for Detained Clients Pro Bono
In November's AILA Interview of the Month, Jim Merklinger, Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of the Association of Corporate Counsel, shares how he volunteered and successfully represented a detained client.
Sign-On Letter Requesting Investigation of Georgia Immigration Detention Centers
On 11/21/17, AILA joined immigrants’ rights, human rights, and civil rights organizations in a letter requesting that the Georgia congressional delegation investigate the conditions at the Stewart and Irwin County immigration detention centers in Georgia.
District Court Issues Preliminary Injunction in Favor of Asylum Seekers at Buffalo Federal Detention Center
A district court issued a preliminary injunction requiring the Buffalo Federal Detention Center to comply with a 2009 ICE directive on evaluating parole requests for asylum seekers and to provide asylum seekers detained for six months or more with bond hearings. (Abdi v. Duke, 11/17/17)
District Court Orders Release of “Operation Indonesian Surrender” Foreign National Pursuant to Preexisting Order of Supervision
The court ruled that ICE did not follow its own regulations, and that it denied due process to foreign national who did not violate any condition of his release but was not given opportunity to prepare for orderly departure as provided in release notification. (Rombot v. Souza, 11/8/17)
AILA Policy Brief: Building America’s Trust Act
AILA provides a policy brief on a few of S. 1757, the Building America’s Trust Act, most troubling provisions. This bill was introduced by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and is a heavy-handed, enforcement-driven bill that is unnecessary, cruel, and expensive.
AILA Statement to House Judiciary Committee on EOIR Oversight
On 10/31/17, AILA joined NGOs and submitted a statement to the House Judiciary Committee, Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee for a hearing on 11/1/17 titled “Overview of the Executive Office for Immigration Review.”
ICE Provides Information on the LaSalle ICE Processing Center
ICE provided background information on the LaSalle ICE Processing Center, which opened in 2007. LaSalle is located in Jena, Louisiana and is a dedicated ICE detention center with a maximum capacity of 1,320 beds. EOIR adjudicates immigration cases at the facility.
Volunteering in Family Detention – Saving One Family at a Time
I volunteered a week in Dilley, Texas, at the South Texas Family Residential Center to give back to the immigrant community and the most vulnerable. While I was there, I also learned more about asylum law, which has made me a better lawyer. Here's what I saw and learned:
AILA Policy Brief: Imposing Numeric Quotas on Judges Threatens the Independence and Integrity of Courts
AILA policy brief on DOJ and EOIR plans to use numeric case completion quotas to evaluate each immigration judge’s performance, and why this unprecedented effort to compel judges to finish cases under stricter deadlines infringes on due process protections.
AILA Quicktake #219: EOIR Case Completion Quotas
Chair of AILA's Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) Liaison Committee Kelli Stump shares how the Trump administration's proposed case completion quotas for immigration judges would harm the immigration court system.
White House Releases Immigration Principles and Policies
On 10/8/17, the White House released a detailed outline of President Trump’s immigration principles and policies, including information on border security, interior enforcement, and the creation of a merit-based immigration system.
White House Releases Executive Summary on Immigration Principles and Policies
On 10/8/17, the White House released an executive summary of President Trump’s immigration principles and policies, including top-level ideas on border security, interior enforcement, and the creation of a merit-based immigration system.
Department of the Treasury Notice on Immigration Bond Interest Rates
Department of the Treasury notice that for the period beginning 10/1/17 and ending 12/31/17, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Immigration Bond interest rate is 1.06 per centum per annum. (82 FR 46890, 10/6/17)
AILA Quicktake #217: Jennings v Rodriguez Arguments
AILA South Florida Chapter Chair Sui Chung recaps the Jennings v Rodriguez oral arguments before the Supreme Court on 10/3/17 and shares how it will impact members and clients.
H.R. 3923: Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act of 2017
On 10/3/17, Representative Adam Smith (D-WA) introduced the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act of 2017 (H.R. 3923), which would provide standards for facilities at which immigrants in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security are detained.
CA9 Affirms Preliminary Injunction Requiring IJs to Consider When Setting a Bond a Detainee’s Financial Ability to Pay
The court affirmed a district court’s order granting a preliminary injunction in favor of plaintiffs, a class of noncitizens in removal proceedings who are detained under INA §236(a) in California and are unable to afford the bond set by immigration officials. (Hernandez v. Sessions, 10/2/17)
DHS OIG Issues Report on Need for Improved Oversight of Segregation of Detainees with Mental Health Conditions
Based on visits to seven ICE facilities and review of a sample of ICE segregation data, DHS OIG released a report stating that ICE field offices needed to improve compliance with oversight requirements for segregation of detainees with mental health conditions.
BIA Finds Grant of Relief by IJ Qualifies as Materially Changed Circumstances for Bond Motion
Unpublished BIA decision holds that the granting of the respondent’s relief application qualified as a material change in circumstances warranting reconsideration of his bond motion. Special thanks to IRAC. (Matter of W-S-, 9/28/17)