US to transfer immigration detainees to federal prisons

US authorities are transferring about 1,600 immigrants to federal prisons in a move that has attracted criticism from human rights activists. 

This is the first large-scale use of federal prisons to hold detainees amid a Trump administration crackdown on people entering the country illegally.

An ICE spokeswoman said five federal prisons will temporarily take in detainees awaiting civil immigration court hearings, including potential asylum seekers, with one prison in Victorville, California, preparing to house 1,000 people.

Officials of a prison employees’ union said the influx of ICE detainees, who were arrested at the border or elsewhere in the US by immigration officials, raises questions about prison staffing and safety.

In April 2018, nearly 51,000 people were apprehended at or near the southern border, up from about 16,000 in the same month a year earlier.

The use of prisons to hold immigrants comes amid a crackdown by Attorney General Jeff Sessions on both illegal border crossings and people seeking asylum.

Illegal border crossings

Recently, Sessions said the Justice Department planned to prosecute every person who crosses the border illegally and to separate migrant children from their parents.

President Donald Trump in the spring signed a memorandum ending “catch and release,” in which illegal immigrants were released from detention while awaiting court hearings.

According to ICE data, the average daily population of detainees in its facilities as of May 26 was 41,134, up from the 2017 daily average of 38,106.

Immigration advocates immediately decried the news of sending detainees to federal penitentiaries.

“Our federal prisons are set up to detain the worst of the worst. They should not be used for immigration purposes,” said Ali Noorani, the executive director of the National Immigration Forum.

“Federal prisons are for hardened criminals. They are not physically set up for immigrant landscapers looking for a job or fleeing violence,” Noorani said.

ICE detainees awaiting civil hearings in immigration courts are usually housed in ICE detention facilities or county jails.