U.S. immigration authorities sending 1,600 detainees to federal prisons
Immigration advocate says those facilities 'are for hardened criminals'
U.S. authorities are transferring into federal prisons about 1,600 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees, officials told Reuters on Thursday, in the first large-scale use of federal prisons to hold detainees amid a Trump administration crackdown on people entering the country illegally.
An ICE spokesperson told Reuters five federal prisons will temporarily take in detainees awaiting civil immigration court hearings, including potential asylum seekers, with one prison in Victorville, Calif., preparing to house 1,000 people.
Officials of a prison employees union said the influx of ICE detainees raises questions about prison staffing and safety.
Union leaders at prisons in California, Texas and Washington state who spoke to Reuters said they had little time to prepare for the large intake of detainees.
At Victorville, the prison getting the largest number of people, workers are moving about 500 inmates in a medium-security facility to make space, said John Kostelnik, local president for the American Federation of Government Employees Council of Prison Locals union.
"There is so much movement going on," said Kostelnik. "Everyone is running around like a chicken without their head."
In addition to Victorville, other prisons that have received or will receive detainees include facilities in Washington state, Oregon, Arizona and Texas.
ICE spokesperson Dani Bennett said ICE "is working to meet the demand for additional immigration detention space, both long and short term" due to a surge in illegal border crossings and a U.S. Department of Justice zero-tolerance policy.
"To meet this need, ICE is collaborating with the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), private detention facility operators and local government agencies," she said in a statement to Reuters.
'Highly unusual'
In April 2018, nearly 51,000 people were apprehended at or near the U.S. southern border, up from about 16,000 in the same month a year earlier.
A new agreement between ICE and the Justice Department makes about 1,600 prison beds available and is expected to last 120 days, giving ICE time to secure more space for detainees. It comes amid a crackdown by Attorney General Jeff Sessions on both illegal border crossings and people seeking asylum.
Recently, Sessions said the Justice Department planned to prosecute every person who crosses the border illegally and to separate migrant children from their parents.
President Donald Trump in the spring signed a memorandum ending "catch and release," in which illegal immigrants were released from detention while awaiting court hearings.
According to ICE data, the average daily population of detainees in its facilities as of May 26 was 41,134, up from the 2017 daily average of 38,106.
Immigration advocates immediately decried the news of sending detainees to federal penitentiaries.
"Our federal prisons are set up to detain the worst of the worst. They should not be used for immigration purposes," said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum.
"Federal prisons are for hardened criminals. They are not physically set up for immigrant landscapers looking for a job or fleeing violence," Noorani said.
ICE detainees awaiting civil hearings in immigration courts are usually housed in ICE detention facilities or county jails.
Kevin Landy, a former ICE assistant director responsible for the Office of Detention Policy and Planning under the Obama administration, said the move to house so many detainees at once in federal prisons was "highly unusual" and raises oversight concerns.
"A large per cent of ICE detainees have no criminal record and are more vulnerable in a prison setting — security staff and administrators at [Bureau of Prisons] facilities have spent their careers dealing with hardened criminals serving long sentences for serious felonies, and the procedures and staff training reflect that," he said. "This sudden mass transfer could result in some serious problems."