Immigrant Detention Centers in the United States and International Human Rights

Abstract

The immigrant detention system in the United States is plagued with problems due to the large number of immigrants and the lack of facility space to house immigrants in detention. The use of immigrant detention centers in the United States has expanded significantly in the past decade.2 Part of the effort to meet increased demands for immigrant detention facilities has involved the use of contracting with non-federal detention facilities. This subcontracting method, however, leads to problems and challenges for an already strained system. For instance, subcontracting distances the federal government from the daily detention center operations and can potentially lead to abuse within the system due to a lack of oversight and monitoring. Recent non-governmental organization (NGO) reports and media exposures unveiled serious problems in the U.S. detention system. For example, a report on