U.S. to Reform Policy on Detention for Immigrants

[Heidi]

Source: NY Times

Published: August 5, 2009

The Obama administration intends to announce an ambitious plan on Thursday to overhaul the much-criticized way the nation detains immigration violators, trying to transform it from a patchwork of jail and prison cells to what its new chief called a “truly civil detention system.”

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.

One move starts immediately: the government will stop sending families to the T. Don Hutto Residential Center, a former state prison near Austin, Tex., that drew an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit and scathing news coverage for putting young children behind razor wire.

“We’re trying to move away from ‘one size fits all,’ ” John Morton, who heads the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency as assistant secretary of homeland security, said in an interview on Wednesday. Detention on a large scale must continue, he said, “but it needs to be done thoughtfully and humanely.”




Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/us/politics/06detain.html?_r=1&hp

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Related: U.S. overhauling immigration detention policy: report

[DCKit]

1. Those FEMA camps are still sitting empty....

Then again, has anyone ever verified their existence?

[annabanana]

2. While I really like the idea of taking this away from under regulated

contractors.. I hope there will be increased transparency so we can head off those ICE "sweeps" that seem to rely on the color of skin or accent.

[SeriousEbony]

3. Maybe we could start with the holding tanks we citizens are herded into

Until you have been locked up as an innocent due to an aggressive DA or other law authorities,
the living hell innocents must endure can do a lot of harm. How about we take care of our citizens first?

[GOPNotForMe]

4. What a silly attitude.

False dichotomy. Why can't we do both?