CLINIC and several other advocacy organizations have submitted a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that addresses the agency's draft policy on detainers.
The undersigned organizations welcome Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) recognition of the need to issue formal guidance regarding the use of detainers. ICE issues detainers to notify law enforcement agencies (LEAs) that ICE seeks custody of alleged non-citizens arrested on criminal charges, for the purpose of arresting and removing them for immigration violations. Detainers are a request that LEAs notify ICE when these arrested non-citizens will be released from custody, so that ICE may assume custody within a designated 48-hour period during which the LEAs can continue to detain them. Detainers are the linchpin of programs such as 287(g), Secure Communities, and the Criminal Alien Program which increasingly intertwine the state criminal justice systems with federal immigration enforcement.
Despite the central role of detainers, problems with their issuance and use abound.
To read the full letter, click here.