Reform Immigration Detention: Safer, More Humane Alternatives

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spends billions of dollars a year to detain and deport people who have lived in the U.S. for decades or who arrived recently seeking safety or a better life.

People in detention experience inhumane conditions and rights abuses that include medical neglect, preventable deaths, punitive use of solitary confinement, lack of due process, obstructed access to legal counsel, and discriminatory and racist treatment.

People apprehended by DHS’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are typically placed in deportation proceedings and detained in one of more than 200 jails and detention centers that make up ICE’s detention system. Vulnerable populations, including people with mental illness, LGBTQ immigrants, and survivors of torture or domestic violence, are frequently subjected to detention.

Immigration detention undermines public safety.

DHS relies on cooperation with state and local law enforcement agencies, creating fertile ground for racial profiling and eroding trust between immigrant communities and local police. The system prioritizes detention over due process and frequently violates constitutional protections.

Immigration detention is inhumane and costly.

Despite documented abuses and systemic failures, the government spends more on immigration enforcement than all other federal enforcement agencies combined. ICE frequently fails to enforce even minimal detention standards, leading to unsafe and inhumane conditions including lack of medical care, mistreatment of people with mental illness, and excessive use of solitary confinement.

$ billion

total budget Congress voted to give ICE in March 2025, drawing from funding that previously provided essential programs for veterans, seniors, and children. (March 2025, NIJC)

of people in ICE custody are held in detention centers operated for profit by private companies (July 2023, ACLU)

of 52 deaths examined between 2017 and 2021 could likely have been prevented with adequate medical care. (June 2024, ACLU)

More humane, effective, and cost-efficient community-based alternatives exist.

The U.S. government has failed to invest in community-based alternatives to detention that are far more humane, effective, and could reduce immigration detention spending by 80 percent. These programs provide support for asylum seekers and immigrants navigating legal proceedings without the need for detention. Expanding these alternatives could reduce detention spending significantly while ensuring individuals can pursue their legal cases with dignity and due process.

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