Last week, many of you signed the petition to the Department of Homeland Security, telling them that enough was enough and it was time to get serious about humane reform of our immigration policies. Well, today the Department of Homeland Security announced plans to reform the immigrant detention system. Nina Bernsein at the New York Times broke the story today:
Details are sketchy, and even the first steps will take months or years to complete. They include reviewing the federal government’s contracts with more than 350 local jails and private prisons, with an eye toward consolidating many detainees in places more suitable for noncriminals facing deportation — some possibly in centers built and run by the government.
The plan aims to establish more centralized authority over the system, which holds about 400,000 immigration detainees over the course of a year, and more direct oversight of detention centers that have come under fire for mistreatment of detainees and substandard — sometimes fatal — medical care.
However, the first step taken by the administration is to stop the detention of families at the infamous T. Don Hutto facility near Austin, Texas. This is a promising move, as it marks a definite break with previous policies towards families that were inhumane at best.
Hutto, a 512-bed center run for profit by the Corrections Corporation of America under a $2.8 million-a-month federal contract, was presented as a centerpiece of the Bush administration’s tough approach to immigration enforcement when it opened in 2006. The decision to stop sending families there — and to set aside plans for three new family detention centers — is the Obama administration’s clearest departure from its predecessor’s immigration enforcement policies.
John Morton, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has said that he wants to work towards a “truly civil detention system”. While the details of what this would look like remain unclear, it is certainly a positive step to begin this much-needed overhaul of the immigrant detention system. What would make it even more positive is if it were a part of a much larger comprehensive immigration reform plan. It’s up to us to keep the pressure on DHS and Congress to lead the fight for comprehensive reform
