The federal immigration enforcement agency today released a new set of "performance-based" detention standards to govern the treatment of detained immigrants.

 

The new "performance-based" standards, posted today on the the Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) website, replace the original detention standards that were negotiated in 2000 between the immigration agency and legal aid experts including the American Bar Association and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

 

In fall 2007, a group of  more than three dozen legal aid, advocacy, and community and faith-based immigrant rights organizations, co-chaired by Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) and the Chicago Bar Foundation, negotiated with ICE for the opportunity to review and comment on the draft performance-based standards. This group of non-governmental organizations, called the  DHS-NGO Enforcement Working Group, submitted comments to ICE in March 2008, which the agency considered before it prepared the final set of standards released today.

 

The Working Group has not seen the final standards prior to today's release.

 

In commenting on the draft standards, NIJC and other members of the Working Group sought to improve the legal and due process protections available to immigrants held in ICE custody, and to guarantee that all detainees are treated with dignity and provided adequate health care. Legal aid providers and community and faith-based organizations share an interest with the agency in seeing strong standards governing all detention facilities uniformly. To this end, NIJC believes strongly that detention standards must be codified in statute or regulation. NIJC will continue to advocate with ICE to make the detention standards enforceable under law.

 

NIJC appreciates the constructive exchange it has had with ICE on the performance-based standards over nearly a year's time. ICE has expressed a commitment to continuing discussion with the Working Group over the standards and considering further modifications. We look forward to reviewing the standards in detail and sharing our views on the final product with ICE.

 

View the ICE Performance-Based Detention Standards at http://www.ice.gov/pi/icedetaineeinfo.htm.