Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Service

LIRS advocates for the humane enforcement of U.S. immigration laws. In particular, LIRS calls for reform of the U.S. immigration detention system.

The Issue

Migrants apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security are often placed into immigration detention, where they are held in jails or jail-like settings. They are typically held until they win their cases and are released or are departed to their countries of origin. Any non-citizens, including green card holders, asylum-seekers, trafficking victims, and torture survivors, are at risk of being detained if federal officials believe they should be returned to their countries of origin.

The Challenges

While some migrants may pose public safety or flight risks, our current immigration detention system uses incarceration as a one-size-fits-all approach. Thousands of migrants who pose no threat to society are held in US jails or other jail-like settings on any given day.

Serious issues with the current system include the following:

• No screening tool currently exists to determine who needs to be detained. 
• International human rights principles dictate that physical detention should be used as a last resort. However, the current system presumes that nearly all migrants require detention.
• Asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants are detained for long periods of time. Data from LIRS’s Asylum and Immigration network show that asylum seekers and victims of torture remain in immigration detention for an average of 18 months. Read more about asylum seekers here. 
• Families with young children are detained.
• Migrants do not currently have the right to a government-funded attorney. Data show that over half of migrants with an attorney appearing before an immigration judge won their asylum cases, while only 11 percent without an attorney were granted asylum.

The number of migrants detained by the government has skyrocketed over the last 15 years. In fiscal year 1996, the government had a daily detention capacity of 8,279 beds. In 2009 that number increased to 33,400. Moreover, US taxpayers foot the cost of detention, which amounted to more than $1.7 billion in 2010.

LIRS's Position

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service seeks to reform US immigration detention policy to protect vulnerable migrants and to ensure the fair treatment of all migrants who come into contact with federal immigration officials.

The vast majority of migrants in detention do not need to be incarcerated. Instead of locking up migrants at a daily cost of $122 per individual, the US government should explore and expand community support programs. Migrants who are not flight risks or risks to the community should be released from detention into local community programs that would provide them with housing, legal and social services and ensure their appearance at immigration court proceedings. Such programs would be more humane and cost-efficient.