Understanding Detention: A human perspective
The Faces Behind the Walls
Deportation is the process of removing a noncitizen from the U.S. for violating immigration law. Immigration detention is a profit-driven practice of incarcerating people while they wait for a decision on their immigration status or future deportation.
Immigrants in detention centers may be undocumented or documented immigrants. This can include people who have expired immigration statuses. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detains immigrants and keeps them in custody. Within these detention centers, ICE agents and other government officials treat immigrants as prisoners.
The reality for many Mexican-American immigrants is prolonged family separation, psychological trauma, and physical abuse.
History of Deportation
U.S. immigration detention began initially in 1892 with Ellis Island. During the 1990s, immigration policy focused on detention as the main form of controlling immigration. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRAIRA) were passed by Clinton in 1996 and enacted to further control immigration laws.
AEDPA: Enacted to protect the United States following the Oklahoma City bombing, but it led to immigrants being prosecuted and detained for past crimes. Immigrants who had committed crimes many years ago could be detained under the new law.
IIRAIRA: Enacted to control undocumented immigration and made it harder for immigrants to receive legal status in the United States.
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, led the Immigration and Naturalization Service to be divided into U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Under the Obama administration, the implementation of the detention bed quota and the expansion of deportation programs such as 287(g), Secure Communities, and the Criminal Alien Program funneled thousands of immigrants into detention centers. The Trump and Biden administrations further expanded upon these programs, engaging in mass deportations through private prison funding. Under Trump's 2025 administration, ICE is the largest federal law enforcement agency in the US, running the largest immigrant detention system in the world.
"Immigration detention, whether privately or publicly managed, is dehumanizing by design. To end detention, we must not only challenge the immoral prison industrial complex, but confront the underlying and ongoing legacy of racism in the U.S. that sustains this system". -Freedom For Immigrants
Private Prisons
Since 1983, private prison corporations have expanded the detention industry, capitalizing on "tough on crime" policies to manage a significant portion of state, federal, and immigration detention facilities. Today, roughly 90% of all people detained by ICE are held in a privately-operated detention facility. Within these facilities, ICE and other government officials strip immigrants of their rights in exchange for profit.
Stripped Identity
Detained immigrants within these centers are seen as criminals. Many detention centers make immigrants wear jumpsuits and refer to them by their alien registration numbers, stripping them of their humanity.
Profit Incentives
Within the facilities, immigrants are referred to as numbers. They are seen as "beds" or commodity units rather than human beings. Private companies like GEO Group and CoreCivic prioritize financial gains rather than human needs.
Deprivation of Care
In private prisons, a large emphasis is placed on profit, leaving medical, living, and food expenses to be taken care of last. Minor health issues tend to be ignored until they become life-threatening in emergencies.
Remote & Isolated
Detention centers are similar to high-security prisons. Razor-wire fences, constant surveillance, and windowless concrete rooms are just a few of the characteristics. This environment is used to physically and psychologically control immigrants while keeping them away from their family members.
ICE funding of Detention Centers
Children in Detention Centers
“The Trump administration’s cruel mass deportation campaign is ripping away childhoods and inflicting trauma that these young people will carry for their entire lives. It’s wrong and must end.” - Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas
Over 6,200 children during President Donald Trump’s second term have been detained by ICE. Kids under 18 have been held with their families in harmful conditions, with poor medical care, inadequate access to education, and inedible food.
