The United States government holds tens of thousands of immigrants in detention under the control of Customs and Border Protection (CBP; principally the Border Patrol) and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
According to the Global Detention Project, the United States possesses the largest immigration detention system in the world.[1] Currently, ICE detains immigrants in over 200 detention centers (including privatized facilities), in state and local jails, in juvenile detention centers, and in shelters.[2] Immigrants may be detained for unlawful entry to the United States, when their claims for asylum are received (and prior to release into the United States by parole), during the process of immigration proceedings, undergoing removal from the country, or if they are subject to mandatory detention.[3]
During Fiscal Year 2023, 273,220 people were booked into ICE custody.[4] As of FY 2023, the daily average population of non-citizens being detained by ICE was 28,289, however, at the end of the same fiscal year there was a total of 36,845 noncitizens being currently detained.[4] In addition, as of April 2024, roughly 7,000 immigrant children are housed by facilities under the supervision of the Office of Refugee Resettlement's (ORR) program for Unaccompanied Children (UC).[5] For the FY 2023, the ORR reported 118,938 unaccompanied children referrals from DHS to be processed into the UC program.[5]
- ^ Global Detention Project. "United States Detention Profile".
- ^ "Detention Statistics". Freedom for Immigrants. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
- ^ "Detention Facilities | ICE". www.ice.gov. 2023-03-30. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
- ^ a b U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE Fiscal Year 2023 Annual Report (PDF)
- ^ a b US Department of Health and Human Services (April 1, 2024). "Unaccompanied Children (UC) Program Fact Sheet" (PDF). HHS.gov.