Dro Policy Memo: Fill & Download for Free

I have read some history of the detention facilities and found it impossible to get a fix on exactly when we first constructed and began using immigrant detention facilities on our southern border. What I have found or many reports and data concerning the numbers of folks detained over the years.It is clear that during the Obama administration eight years, 2008 to 2016, the numbers are well described and detailed. It is fair to assume that we were detaining illegal aliens in these facilities in large numbers during those years.In fact, as far as I can tell, it was the high numbers of detainees and the lack of funding that led to the “catch and release” policy that remains in place today.The following may help explain this a bit, but it is from Wikipedia so there may be some bias in what is written:THISMandatory detention was officially authorized by President Bill Clinton in 1996, with the enactment of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty 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 fifteen detention centers (including privatized facilities), in state and local jails, in juvenile detention centers, and in shelters.AND THISThe Obama administration promised to overhaul the immigration detention system and transform it into one that is less punitive, more centralized, and more transparent.However, immigrant rights groups raised concerns about ongoing abuses against detainees. ICE officials were pressured to increase detention and deportation quotas to fulfill the agency's annual goal. A 2010 memo issued by James M. Chaparro, the chief of ICE's Detention and Removal Operations, "congratulated agents for reaching the agency's goal of '150,000 criminal alien removals' for the year ending Sept. 30" but "instructed agents to pick up the pace of deportations by detaining more noncitizens suspected only of unauthorized residence."Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also publicly endorsed the Secure Communities deportation initiative, which has "rapidly expanded" under the Obama administration, expressing a hope in 2009 that the program would expand to all of the United States by 2013.In late February 2013, ICE announced that it has released "several hundred" detained immigrants from deportation centers ahead of budget cuts; the release of the detained immigrants was praised by Human Rights First, and criticized by Republican Representative Bob Goodlatte.The White House and the Department of Homeland Security distanced itself from the decision to release the detained immigrants with White House Press Secretary Jay Carney calling those released "low-risk, non-criminal detainees".The Associated Press reported that the official in charge of immigration enforcement and removal operations resigned due to the release of the detained undocumented immigrants,but ICE stated that the official had retired and that his departure was not connected to the release.Those released were told they were bonded and released, with ICE officials saying that the released immigrants remain in deportation proceedings.In March 2013, the Department of Homeland Security announced that the number released was more than 2,000 in the states of Arizona, California, Georgia, and Texas; the department also stated it plans to release an additional 3,000 in March 2013.The Politico reports that the cost of housing detained immigrants cost about $164 per day per person.CLEARLY A LOT OF DETENTION WAS OCCURING DURING THIS PERIOD AND SOME LONG TERM CONSEQUENCES WERE PUT INTO MOTION.