Will Californias Ban on For-Profit Immigration Detention and Prisons Survive Biden Legal Challenge?
The president has ordered the U.S. Department of Justice to phase out its use of private prisons for criminal offenders, but he left out for-profit immigration detention centers, which account for roughly 80% of ICEs detention beds. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has requested Congress appropriate $1.8 billion for ICE to keep 32,500 detention beds nationwide, just 4% fewer than what was enacted last year under President Donald Trump. This ensures apprehended noncitizens subject to removal from the United States are held in safe and secure facilities pending their immigration proceedings, said the budget summary by the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE. As of July 8, ICE detained more than 27,200 people nationwide, nearly double the number locked up when Biden took office. More than four out of five of those immigrants do not have a criminal conviction, according to the most recent agency figures. Bidens seeming lack of action so far to dismantle the private immigration detention system worries AB 32 supporters like Jackie Gonzalez, who directs policy for Immigrant Defense Advocates in Sacramento. He has the opportunity to reverse course. But thus far, his behavior has been a betrayal for the immigrant community, said Gonzalez, whose organization pushed for the passage of AB 32. His decision to side with private prison companies by continuing to pursue Trump's litigation against the state of California, and failing to make good on his campaign promises is something that no one is going to forget.  Congresswoman Torres and state Attorney General Bonta said its still early in the presidents tenure. They hope the Biden administration will work with California on this issue and consider more alternatives -- such as case management programs and ankle monitors -- to jailing immigrants for the civil violation of not having valid immigration papers. These are civil cases, and folks don't need to be detained at all, said Bonta. They can come to all of their hearings and go through whatever process is part of their individualized case without being detained and without taxpayers wasting resources on locking people up in cages.  Immigration authorities contend that the use of private contractors provides ICE needed flexibility to increase or decrease detention space, as the population of detainees can fluctuate greatly. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of people immigration authorities jailed dropped significantly, as ICE officials and immigration judges ordered the release of thousands of people nationwide, in part because of the high risk of virus transmission at detention centers. In August 2019, the Trump administration locked up more than 55,000 immigrants nationwide on any given day, an all-time high. But that number fell to about 15,000 at the end of Trumps term.