The Department of Homeland Security is facing a major dilemma as the failure to approve a bipartisan immigration plan has resulted in a critical shortage of resources and space for detaining asylum seekers. The decision is now on the table to release thousands of undocumented immigrants detained in its jails, according to The Washington Post.
The senate’s bipartisan immigration plan aimed to provide $20.3 billion to the Department of Homeland Security to increase bed capacity in ICE prisons among other measures. The collapse of the agreement has left ICE with insufficient response capacity to address the crisis on the southern border.
The sheer number of undocumented immigrants referred to immigration courts has overwhelmed the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which currently has a daily capacity of about 32,000 beds in immigration detention centers across the country. The crisis has worsened in the last three years, with hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants being referred to immigration courts.
Following the failure of the bipartisan immigration plan, ICE is considering mass releases of foreigners who are being processed, but this raises questions about the agency’s policy on releasing some asylum seekers while detaining others for the same reason.
The Real ID Act of 2005 included severe changes to asylum law, mandating that any foreigner who requests protection from the federal government must remain detained until their case is resolved in the immigration courts. This is becoming increasingly challenging as the number of asylum seekers has surged in recent years.
Under the Obama administration, in response to the crisis, ICE established deportation priorities, prioritizing the detention of those foreigners who represent a threat to national, public, and border security, releasing others on alternative means of detention such as wearing electronic shackles or bracelets, paying bail, or periodic telephone calls.
The use of alternative means of detention through the Alternative to Detention (ATD) program is reserved for individuals with good moral character who do not have a criminal record and do not pose a threat to public safety. Over the past year, the number of undocumented immigrants released with electronic tracking devices has decreased.
Although ICE is committed to protecting the privacy of participants in the alternative detention program, the agency faces a critical shortage of resources to manage the crisis at the southern border. The decision to release thousands of undocumented immigrants is a response to an escalating humanitarian crisis.
As the immigration crisis continues, the fate of thousands of undocumented immigrants remains in limbo, as the federal government grapples with the handling of unprecedented numbers of asylum seekers.