Immigration and Customs Enforcement

The detention policies of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in Colorado and the network of facilities that has grown here in the last few years are drawing increasing attention among local lawmakers and human rights organizations.

Critics of the system say men and women held on suspicion of immigration violations in the state are housed in conditions that rival those established for violent criminal offenders, that the immigrants are becoming fodder for a booming detention industry, and that detainees are often difficult to locate in the tangle of state facilities, which include unlisted so-called subfield offices.

According to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Detention and Removal website, the federal agency has only one center for detention in Colorado, a privately owned facility located in Aurora. The website doesn’t mention that the agency may also be holding people at unlisted sub-field offices around Colorado.

The Nation, which broke the story last week of such sub-field offices, called them “secret” and suggested that they are “black sites” into which detainees might effectively disappear. ICE disputes the terminology.

A House Homeland Security Committee hearing Thursday morning highlighted the sharp divide in Congress over illegal immigration and what should be done about it, presaging the difficult fight ahead when Congress eventually begins to tackle proposals for comprehensive immigration reform.

A new report from the conservative Center for Immigration Studies makes a point of praising the so-called 287(g) program, calling it very “cost-effective.” The program, which was just renewed by the Obama administration, grants broad immigration enforcement powers to local law enforcement agencies.
Although the program may be cost-effective for the federal government, there is some [...]

A federal program known as 287(g), which grants broad immigration enforcement powers to local law enforcement agencies, has resulted in a “sweep of terror,” said 2nd District U.S. Rep. Jared Polis. In a floor speech today, the Boulder Democrat–who can usually be counted on to speak out in support of immigration reform–had sharp criticism for [...]

As the federal stimulus dollars begin to trickle down to the states this week, Erin Rosa provides a very timely profile of national private prison matron, The GEO Group, which operates facilities in Colorado.

Bloated federal funding and political pressure pushed a U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement program to meet arrest quotas rather than focus on rounding up criminal fugitives and addressing national security threats, says a damning new report on the controversial agency.

Recent data shows that Colorado and Wyoming saw a 7 percent increase in deportations of undocumented immigrants in 2007, but the information should come as no surprise because the federal government has been dramatically stepping up enforcement actions, including worksite raids and criminal prosecutions.

While local and national law enforcement have flooded Denver providing security and causing concern about police brutality during this week’s Democratic National Convention, Colorado is getting some additional federal agents that will stay well after the DNC.