Immigration detention in the United States

In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan reacted to the mass migration of asylum seekers arriving in boats from Haiti by establishing a program to interdict them (i.e. stop and search certain vessels suspected of transporting undocumented Haitians).

[6] As the number of undocumented immigrants who were fleeing economic and political conditions increased, President Bush Sr attempted to find a regional location to handle the influx.

[7] These options also proved inadequate for the sheer numbers of Haitians fleeing their country, and the Coast Guard took them to the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba, where they were pre-screened for asylum in the United States.

[9] In 2007, the program, Secure Communities, was created within ICE to identify criminal aliens, prioritize them based on the severity of the crimes that they committed, and transform the processes necessary to remove them by increasing efficiency.

This agreement in practice permits local and state enforcement officials to arrest and even detain individuals they encounter during their day-to-day duties if they suspect them to be or "identify" them as undocumented immigrants.

[19] Often, undocumented aliens or individuals lacking legal permission to enter, or remain, in the United States, when apprehended at the U.S. border are detained and placed in removal proceedings in front of an immigration judge.

In addition, if an individual is already in the U.S., they will be put in mandatory detention if suspected of being a threat to national security or charged with two crimes of "moral turpitude," an "aggravated felony," a firearms offense, or a controlled substance violation.

The ACLU has condemned this practice, saying that it violates due process and is inefficient and costly, since individuals who do not pose a threat to national security but have a criminal record are often the ones subjected to mandatory detention.

On April 16, 2019, U.S. Attorney General William Barr ruled that asylum seekers who are in detention and have shown they have a credible fear of returning to their countries are not able to have a judge grant them bond.

In July 2019, the Trump administration implemented a broader scope of "expedited removal" of migrants apprehended at the border to allow immigration officials to deport on a quicker time table.

GEO Group, the second largest private prison company in the United States, has been found to only pay workers in their programs one dollar a day—or less, while also punishing detainees who refuse solitary confinement.

Professor Jackie Stevens of Northwestern University's Deportation Research Clinic obtained documents that highlighted the financial troubles as a result of these lawsuits.

In March 2018, 18 Republican members of Congress sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, claiming these low paying work programs—with threat of solitary confinement -- "improve detainees morale.

"[51] While the United States Constitution provides convicted individuals with legal advice, free of charge if they cannot afford an attorney, immigrants are not guaranteed this right.

[53] On January 18, 2019, Kirkland & Ellis attorney Sarah Fabian, senior counsel to the Department of Justice, argued, before a panel of three judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, that toothbrushes and soap were not required elements of "safe and sanitary conditions" for the "shorter stays" of children in ICE detention.

"[55] The New York Times reported "recurrent complaints include[ing] frigid temperatures, mildew and meals that leave detainees hungry and willing to clean for $1 a day to pay for commissary food" at the Varick Federal Detention Facility in Manhattan.

ICE has been accused of covering up many of these deaths, like that of Boubacar Bah, an immigrant from Guinea who was placed in isolation for thirteen hours after suffering from a skull fracture and eventually died in custody.

Several human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and a series of reports made by The New York Times have cited concerns with ICE's management of these detention centers.

One hundred detainees at the Varick site, all of whom had no criminal charges, sent a petition in October 2008 to the New York City Bar Association detailing human rights abuses and substandard conditions and asking for legal help.

The strike was broken up by a SWAT team that allegedly "used pepper spray and "beat up" some detainees, took many to segregation cells as punishment and transferred about 17 to immigration jails in other states.

This "zero-tolerance" policy changed the way the courts prosecuted undocumented immigrants crossing the border, according to Professor Jackie Stevens of Northwestern University's Deportation Research Clinic.

[70] Instead handing out civil charges for those apprehended crossing the border, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions changed the prosecution statute to a criminal misdemeanor, leading to large numbers of undocumented children to be separated from their families.

[71] When these discrepancies arose, ICE systematically put the individual's age at the oldest year possible, in order to move them to detention facilities, rather than child care units.

This American Life, a WBEZ Chicago radio show, highlighted Yong Xiong's journey through detention facilities, as dental radiographs claimed she was still a child, even though she was 19-years-old.

Furthermore, detention policies have worked to disregard the sanctity of the family unit, violate the rights of refugees and asylum seekers, and ignore both domestic and international laws of due process.

[92] Some of the symptoms identified with prison psychosis are "hallucinations, panic attacks, overt paranoia, diminished impulse control, hypersensitivity to external stimuli and difficulties with thinking, concentration and memory".

[92] The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment has stressed that solitary confinement that surpassed 15 days should be eradicated, since scientific evidence shows that it could have irreversible psychiatric consequences.

The children are being temporarily housed in shelters in Dallas and San Antonio, Texas, as well as the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center in California under the care of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Rapid Deployment has been awarded two contracts for $614 million to run a Fort Bliss, Texas site that could become the largest in the country as it expands to 10,000 potential beds.

[125] Despite research that shows that solitary confinement for a period longer than 15 days can have significant psychological impacts on a person, many transgender individuals are placed in isolation for months at a time.