Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Budget Cuts and Immigration Detainees

Federal immigration officials have recently released hundreds of detainees from detention centers around the country.  Officials stated that this was done in an effort to save money in light of looming budget cuts.  More releases are still possible depending on the outcome of budget negotiations.  A spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) emphasized that the detainees who were released were “noncriminals and other low-risk offenders who do not have serious criminal histories.”  
Officials would not specify exactly how many detainees were released or where they were released from.  Immigrant advocates have reported that detainees were released from detention in New Jersey, Texas, Florida, New Orleans, Alabama, Arizona, Georgia and New York.
The government has not dropped the deportation cases altogether.  The detainees were merely freed on supervised release while their cases are pending.  Under supervised release, defendants in immigration cases will be required to report regularly at a regional immigration office.
You can read more about the releases here.