The Justice Department’s plans to stop using privately run prisons won’t affect the Homeland Security Department, which says its mission is different and it will continue to buy bed space from private facilities.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses a mix of private, state and local and its own federal facilities to detain approximately 30,000 immigrants a day, as they either await deportation hearings or a final flight out of the U.S.
And that will continue, officials said, despite the Justice Department’s announcement Thursday that it was phasing out private prisons after deciding those facilities don’t do a good enough job of rehabilitating criminals.
“ICE detention is solely for the purpose of either awaiting the resolution of an individual’s immigration case or to carry out a removal order. ICE does not detain for punitive reasons,” an ICE official said.
The Justice Department’s decision immediately put pressure on ICE, though.
“We must insist that these changes are adopted by all federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, which relies heavily on private prisons even for housing vulnerable mothers and children,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Incarceration should not be a for-profit business.”
SEE ALSO: Justice Dept. to end use of privately run prisons
Critics have accused private prisons of skimping on health care and other basic needs in order to maximize their profits, and also say the companies are too shielded from public scrutiny for their behavior.
Advocates for minority communities also say the drive for profits by major prison corporations has led to stiffer prison terms.
That’s not the case for ICE, whose maximum number of detention beds is mandated by Congress. Those beds are filled with everyone from Central American families fleeing gang violence at home, to hardened criminals and gang members who served time for crimes here in the U.S. and who are awaiting deportation.
They are usually only in ICE custody for a short period of time, rather than the years that federal prisoners are often held.
ICE currently uses 46 prisons that are either owned or run by private contractors, and as of Aug. 8 it had about 24,500 people in those facilities, out of a total population of more than 33,600 detainees.
Immigrant-rights advocates say detaining most illegal immigrants is dehumanizing — particularly for families that snuck into the U.S. looking for a better life.
The advocates said one solution is to release many of the illegal immigrants, which would reduce the demand for private beds within ICE.
Advocates also said that immigration affects the Justice Department, too. Many of those in federally affiliated prisons are serving time for immigration-related offenses.
They feared that the private prisons that will be shuttered by the Justice Department will soon reopen as holding facilities for ICE.
“The solution is not to transfer these people from one facility to another, it’s to stop prosecuting them altogether,” said Jacinta Gonzalez, an anti-deportation activist with an organization called #Not1More.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.