DHS and ICE have announced new initiatives as part of an ongoing immigration detention reform effort that address the seven major components of the detention system outlined in an internal review focusing on greater oversight, detainee care, and uniformity at detention facilities.
"These new reforms will establish consistent standards across the country,” assistant ICE secretary John Morton said.
DHS said the reforms are expected to be budget neutral or result in cost savings through reduced reliance on contractors to perform key federal duties and additional oversight of all contracts.
To better manage all detainee populations, ICE will centralize all contracts under ICE headquarters’ supervision, and to better manage detention operations, ICE will develop a risk assessment and custody classification, which will enable detainees to be placed in an appropriate facility, said DHS.
The department said ICE would pursue detention strategies based on assessed risk and reduce costs by exploring the use of converted hotels, nursing homes and other residential facilities.
ICE will devise and implement a medical classification system, more than double the number of federal personnel providing onsite oversight at the facilities where the majority of detainees are housed, and accelerate efforts to provide an online search system for attorneys, family members and others to locate detained aliens, said DHS.
