Immigration detention in the United States

The United States government holds tens of thousands of immigrants in detention under the control of Customs and Border Protection (CBP; principally the Border Patrol) and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Immigrants are detained for unlawful entry to the United States, when their claims for asylum are received (and prior to release into the United States by parole), and in the process of deportation and removal from the country. During Fiscal Year 2018, 396,448 people were booked into ICE custody: 242,778 of whom were detained by CBP and 153,670 by ICE's own enforcement operations. A daily average of 42,188 immigrants (40,075 adult and 2,113 in families) were held by ICE in that year. In addition, over twelve thousand immigrant children are housed by facilities under the supervision of the Office of Refugee Resettlement's program for Unaccompanied Alien Children. Prior to referral to these other agencies, the CBP holds immigrants at processing centers; between mid-May and mid-June 2019, it held between 14,000 and 18,000 immigrants.

Mandatory detention was officially authorized by President Bill Clinton in 1996, with the enactment of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty (which gave the Attorney General discretion to extend detention) and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility acts. From 1996 to 1998, the number of immigrants in detention increased from 8,500 to 16,000 and by 2008 this number increased to more than 30,000. According to the Global Detention Project, the United States possesses the largest immigration detention system in the world. In 2003, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) was created under the Department of Homeland Security. ICE enforces the United States' immigration and customs laws, uses investigative techniques to apprehend and detain those suspected of violating them, and then deports many of these individuals. The Office of Detention and Removal Operations (DRO), housed within ICE, oversees the detention and deportation of immigrants taken into custody by ICE. Currently, ICE detains immigrants in over 200 detention centers (including privatized facilities), in state and local jails, in juvenile detention centers, and in shelters.

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. Reports refer to instances of human rights abuse and inadequate or unprofessional medical care in these detention facilities. Such reports have also publicized the death of several immigrants in detention and have accused ICE of covering up this information. ICE, in response, has released a list of 166 people who died under ICE detention between 2003–2016. ICE has publicly stated that the agency provides "state-of-the-art medical care" and "do[es] everything possible to maintain the best quality of life for the detainees in…custody." In May 2008 the Detainee Basic Medical Care Act of 2008 (H.R. 5950) was introduced to the United States Congress by Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), though no further steps have been taken to enact the bill.