crimmigration.com

The intersection of criminal law and immigration law

Archive

After regularly updating crimmigration.com from January 2009 until November 2022, I have stopped doing so. I hope you continue to benefit from the blog as an archive. For up-to-date information about my work, visit ccgarciahernandez.com. – César

  • Home
  • About César
  • Articles
  • Books
  • Talks & Media

Trump/McConnell bill would boost ICE detention reach

The bill that President Trump touted as a shutdown-ending compromise is doomed to stall in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, but its boost to ICE’s detention powers is worth considering because it maintains a recent trend.

Tucked into page 417, the bill dedicates $4,989,158,000—that is, just shy of $5 billion—to ICE’s enforcement, detention, and removal operations. This is a slight bump from the $4.1 billion that the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division received through the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 . ERO is one of ICE’s four units, though it carries out most of the agency’s highest profile policing activities. It also runs ICE’s network of hundreds of detention centers.

Importantly, the bill grants the Secretary of Homeland Security power to transfer funds allocated to other tasks to ICE “as necessary to ensure the detention of aliens prioritized for removal.” § 208. Obviously, this would free up more dollars. More meaningfully, it would let DHS shift resources Congress appropriated for other purposes to ICE’s detention operations. Such authorization would likely increase ICE’s already enormous detention population. The 2008 budget bill included identical language, helping explain the agency’s recent moves to take money from other units.

Like other bills, the proposal expected to come to a Senate vote this week includes a minor limitation. It would require ICE to cut off any detention center that receives a “less than ‘adequate’” score on its two most recent performance evaluations. Past funding bills have included similar language. ICE rarely ends a detention center contract over problems inside the facility. Moreover, its performance evaluation system is notoriously shoddy.

Unlike its promised changes to asylum procedures, the bill would not radically transform ICE’s detention powers. Instead, it would give ICE more money to do more of what it is already doing.

  • Share via Facebook
  • Share via LinkedIn
  • Share via Twitter
  • Share via Email

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Posted by César on January 23, 2019 on 4:00 am Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Congress, imprisonment, proposed legislation

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Subscribe


Recent Posts

  • Pelosi attacker reportedly Canadian overstayer
  • Biden marijuana pardon meets immigration law & fizzles
  • California private prison ban is illegal, 9th Circuit says
  • Citizenship is complicated
  • Supreme Court says Biden can end MPP
  • Uvalde massacre & immigration law aid

Search

Social Media

Blawg 100 Honoree

The information contained on these pages must not be considered legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. This work by www.crImmigration.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.