ICE discontinues or limits use of four detention facilities, citing inadequate conditions
The Biden administration directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Friday to stop holding immigrants at an Alabama county jail and limit its use of three other detention facilities, citing inadequate conditions, according to an agency notice obtained by CBS News.
Acting ICE director Tae Johnson instructed officials to no longer use the Etowah County Detention Center in northern Alabama due to "a long history of serious deficiencies identified during facility inspections." Officials said the detention facility does not hold significant operational value to ICE.
Johnson also announced that ICE will pause its use of the Glades County Detention Center in southern Florida, saying any future detainee transfers to the facility will be dependent on compliance with internal detention standards.
According to the notice, ICE will reduce the number of detainees held at the Winn Correctional Center, a facility in rural Louisiana run by a for-profit prison company, citing staffing shortages. The agency said it has tasked an official to monitor conditions at the facility, which is undergoing renovations.
Meanwhile, the Alamance County Detention Facility in North Carolina will transition from a long-term detention facility to a 72-hour processing site, the notice said. ICE officials cited concerns about conditions at the county jail where the detainees are held, including a lack of outdoor recreation.
Friday's announcement represents the most significant move yet by the Biden administration in its efforts to reform ICE's sprawling detention system, which has long been plagued by reports of inadequate conditions and allegations of detainee mistreatment. ICE will continue to monitor conditions at other detention facilities, the notice said.
In an interview with CBS News in January, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called detention reform one of his priorities for 2022. Last year, Mayorkas directed ICE to stop using two detention sites in Georgia and Massachusetts where detainees had reported mistreatment.
The administration, however, has not yet fulfilled President Biden's campaign pledge of ending for-profit immigration detention. "I will only say the following: number one, detention reform is a priority of mine, and two, the president fulfills his promises," Mayorkas said in January when asked about the promise.
Representatives for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), its umbrella agency, did not respond to requests for comment on Friday's announcement, which was reported earlier by Reuters.
As of earlier this month, ICE was holding just over 20,000 immigrants in its detention system, which consists mainly of county jails and for-profit prisons, agency statistics show.
The agency detains adult immigrants facing deportation, including migrants who recently crossed a U.S. border illegally and non-citizens arrested after being convicted of crimes that made them deportable.
Departing from broader Trump-era deportation policies, the Biden administration has directed ICE agents to focus on arresting immigrants deemed to pose a threat to national security or public safety, such as those convicted of serious crimes, as well as migrants who recently entered the U.S. illegally.
The policies effectively exempt undocumented immigrants who have lived and worked in the U.S. before November 2020 from arrest and deportation as long as they don't commit serious crimes.
Friday's notice said Johnson directed the agency to transfer immigrants detained at the four sites included in his announcement to other facilities if they fall under the administration's immigration enforcement priorities.
In addition to limiting ICE arrests, the Biden administration has expanded so-called alternatives to detention programs, which allow the agency to monitor, through ankle monitors or other means, immigrants who are not physically in its custody.
As of earlier this month, approximately 192,000 immigrants were enrolled in alternatives to detention programs, ICE figures show.
