ICE Detention Standards Revised to Favor Contractors

Contractors managing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities will soon use artificial intelligence tools more heavily for communication with detainees. This change comes with new standards allowing continued payment of $1 per day for detainee ‘voluntary work.’ The relaxed detention standards aim to reduce the operational burden for for-profit contractors and jails.

ICE stated the revised standards were influenced by partner input to alleviate challenges faced by detention operators. Experts believe these changes enable contractors to limit legal difficulties, cut costs, and increase operational leeway, without improving conditions for the roughly 60,000 people currently detained.

It’s going to result in deterioration of already problematic conditions of detention, said Michelle Brane, a former Department of Homeland Security ombudsman. She supervised immigration detention policies during the Biden administration. Brane remarked these shifts follow ICE practices that avoid accountability and disregard detainees’ basic rights and safety.

These revisions occur alongside soaring death rates and accusations of medical negligence and inhumane treatment in ICE detention centers. Despite these issues, ICE received over half of a $70 billion immigration enforcement budget as approved by former President Donald Trump.

Dr. Sanjay Basu, a public health researcher focusing on ICE custody deaths, noted some standards, like improved suicide prevention and mental health care, represent progress. Still, he saw a general weakening of rules affecting the detained population.

ICE mentioned the changes simplify its policies and align more with U.S. Marshals Service standards for detaining pretrial federal inmates. The agency claimed it evaluated input from facility operators along with operational, legal, and policy considerations when finalizing decisions.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

The updated standards allow the use of AI, specifically machine-learning translation tools, for noncritical communication with detainees. Such communication includes interactions during intake, in housing units, and addressing detainee grievances.

Dr. Homer Venters, a correctional health care expert, expressed alarm over this reliance on AI. He emphasized that grievances often involve urgent information, such as denial of lifesaving care. Venters questioned if health assessments, crucial for identifying medical or mental health issues, will also utilize AI.

ICE assured that contractors must offer interpretation and translation services without cost to detainees.

Concerns Over Facility Standards

Experts voiced unease about a new rule preventing facility operators from rejecting detainees ICE sends them. This rule might hinder immediate transfers for severely ill or disabled detainees to necessary care facilities, yet it could limit liability for deaths that occur subsequently. An associated rule mandates facilities to request ICE transfers for detainees they cannot accommodate, though this may not occur promptly.

Protection for Contractors

The new standards clarify that detainees engaging in volunteer work are not employees, thus not entitled to wages or benefits. Dora Schriro, former director of ICE’s Office of Detention Policy and Planning, described this change as beneficial to ICE’s for-profit contractors.

For years, advocacy groups have challenged volunteer programs in court, seeking millions in unpaid wages from ICE contractors like GeoGroup and CoreCivic. Schriro suggested the revised standards strengthen contractors’ legal defenses.

Another change restricts detainee payments to the $1-per-day minimum set previously, stopping facilities from paying more, a position previously used against contractors in lawsuits. Carmen Iguina Gonzalez of the American Civil Liberties Union noted that detainee tasks can include cleaning, haircuts, and other facility-maintaining work.

Claire Trickler-McNulty, an expert on detention standards and former DHS and ICE official, argued ICE should use its increased funding to enhance detainee conditions instead of reducing standards. She pointed out that, historically, funds have improved recreational and visitation facilities in some ICE centers.

Their goal is to make it easier for jail operators, Trickler-McNulty said. The focus appears to have shifted from detainee care and experience to operator convenience.