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
Don’t Cry, Mommy
After going through security, placing my phone in the locker outside the facility, and relinquishing my driver's license in exchange for a one-day entry badge, I entered the trailer excited and anxious. As a business immigration attorney, though I was outside my comfort zone, I was ready for a new a
Shadow Prisons: Immigrant Detention in the South
The Southern Poverty Law Center, the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild and the Adelante Alabama Worker Center provides a report based on 300 in-person interviews with detainees that focuses on detention centers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana.
Sign-On Letter to DHS Secretary Johnson Condemning the Escalating Detention Rates
On 10/31/16, AILA joined 230 organizations in condemning DHS’ record-level immigration detention rates, as well as ICE contract renewal with a private prison company for a family detention center. The group requested a meeting with DHS Secretary Johnson to discuss these concerns and recommendations.
Letter From Former Immigration Judges and BIA Members to DHS on Immigration Detention System
On 10/31/16, former Immigration Judges and BIA members sent a letter to DHS Secretary Johnson to express concern and disappointment on the dramatic increase of men, women, and children detained by ICE, stating that the expansion is coming at the expense of basic rights and due process.
District Court Says Government Bears Burden of Proving That Continued Mandatory Detention Is Necessary
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia denied the government’s Motion to Alter or Amend the Judgment, and reaffirmed that due process requires the government to bear the burden of justifying the petitioner’s continued detention. (Haughton v. Crawford, et al., 10/28/16)
Profiting Off Trauma
Last year, I spent a week as a volunteer attorney with the CARA Project at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, which is run by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Although the government calls it a “residential center,“ it is, of course, a prison that detains
When Will They Listen?
Family detention is wrong. The mass incarceration and detention of asylum seekers is wrong. The detention of immigrants who are not flight risks and pose no danger to community or national safety is wrong. It's not just me saying it, or just AILA saying it, or even churches, community groups, NGOs,
USCIS Provides Credible Fear and Reasonable Fear Statistics from Family Detention Facilities
USCIS provided credible fear and reasonable fear statistics from four family detention facilities (Artesia, Berks, Dilley, and Karnes). Includes information on number of receipts, interviews conducted, whether fear was established, and fear found rate for FY2014 through FY2016.
AILA and the American Immigration Council File Amicus Brief in Jennings v. Rodriguez
AILA and the American Immigration Council filed an amicus brief in Jennings v. Rodriguez, urging the Supreme Court to affirm the Ninth Circuit’s ruling that certain immigrants are entitled to automatic bond hearings following six months of detention. (Jennings v. Rodriguez, 10/24/16)
Hostile Jurisdictions
U.S. immigration lawyers, members of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), practice in every state in the union and other countries besides. We fight for clients no matter where they are, to the best of our abilities. However, we are currently wrestling with an elephant of a problem -
Department of the Treasury Notice on Immigration Bond Interest Rates
Department of the Treasury notice that for the period beginning 10/1/16 and ending 12/31/16, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Immigration Bond interest rate is 0.31 per centum per annum. (81 FR 70487, 10/12/16)
Family Detention During Obama Administration
Resources related to the Obama administration’s family detention policy and conditions.
AILA Quicktake #177: DHS Committee Recommends End of Family Detention
AILA's Associate Director of Advocacy Karen Lucas shares recommendations from the Department of Homeland Security's Advisory Committee on Family Residential Centers' report on family detention.
Federal Government Must Adopt Own Advisory Committee’s Recommendations and End Family Detention
AILA, the Council, and CLINIC welcomed the unanimous conclusion from the DHS Advisory Committee on Family Residential Centers that “detention is generally neither appropriate nor necessary for families” and urged DHS to adopt the recommendations immediately.
Report of the DHS Advisory Committee on Family Residential Centers
The DHS Advisory Committee on Family Residential Centers released recommendations to improve detention management and conditions, stating "DHS’s immigration enforcement practices should operationalize the presumption that detention is generally neither appropriate nor necessary for families."
District Court Finds That Petitioner’s Detention of More Than One Year Has Become Unreasonable
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia held that the constitutional concerns raised by prolonged detention require implying a reasonable time limitation in INA §236(c), and found that petitioner’s detention had become unreasonable. (Haughton v. Crawford, et al., 10/7/16)
BIA Says Pre-Conclusion Voluntary Departure Does Not Preclude Bond Appeal
Unpublished BIA decision holds that respondents need not waive appeal of denial of bond redetermination in order to accept pre-conclusion voluntary departure. Special thanks to IRAC. (Matter of Nunez, 10/4/16)
District Court Finds That Immigration Detainers Require a Warrant
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois held that ICE’s policy of issuing detainers without regard to whether the subject of the detainer was likely to flee before a warrant could be obtained was unlawful. (Jimenez Moreno v. Napolitano, 9/30/16)
Report of the DHS Advisory Committee on Family Residential Centers
In this report, the DHS Advisory Committee on Family Residential Centers recommended that DHS to discontinue the general use of family detention, reserving it for rare cases, and that if continued custody is absolutely necessary, families should be detained for the shortest amount of time.
ACLU Report: Shutting Down the Profiteers: Why and How DHS Should Stop Using Private Prisons
This report from the American Civil Liberties Union spotlights the dangerously close ties between ICE and the private prison industry, describes the human toll of over-detention and privatization, and provides a concrete plan for how ICE can and should phase out its reliance on private prisons.
Building a Force of Zealous, Creative Refugee and Asylum Advocates
According to UNHCR's 2015 Global Trends Report, one out of every 122 humans is now either a refugee, internally displaced, or seeking asylum due to wars, conflict, and persecution that are not ending, but being met with impunity by governments and the international community. No surprise then that
Resources on Class Action Lawsuit on Behalf of Immigrant Detainees with Mental Disabilities
Resources related to Franco-Gonzalez v. Holder, the class action lawsuit brought on behalf of immigrant detainees with mental disabilities.
Senate Democrats Urge DHS To Release Children and Mothers in Detention
On 9/27/16, a group of senators urged DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson to release families that have been detained for prolonged periods at Berks County Residential Center in Pennsylvania, unless there is compelling evidence that they pose a specific public safety or flight risk.
Senators Call on DHS to Ensure Proper Review Process of Private Immigration Detention
On 9/26/16, twelve U.S. senators urged DHS Secretary Johnson to ensure that the review process of DHS’s use of private immigration detention centers be transparent and include input from outside experts. The senators also shared their concerns of the inadequate conditions of detention facilities.
No More Diapers in Detention
The beginning of a young lawyer's career is, naturally, a time of many first experiences. Many of these “firsts“ are so nerve-wracking they churn your stomach: the first time you step into court with the weight of someone's future on your shoulders, the first time you stand up next to a client