Congressman Jason Crow Presses Biden Administration to End Federal Contracts with For-Profit ICE Facilities

WASHINGTON – Representative Jason Crow (CO-06) today joined Reps. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) and Raul Grajalva (AZ-03) in pressing the Biden Administration to end contracting with private, for-profit immigration detention facilities. While President Biden issued an executive order in January 2021 ending the Department of Justice's use of privately-operated prisons, the executive order did not apply to immigration detention facilities. The Department of Homeland Security continues to expand the detention system and recently renewed contracts with four Geo Group facilities in Colorado, Florida, and Texas.

In the letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas and ICE Acting Director Johnson, the Members request the suspension of ICE detention expansion, phase out of private, for-profit facilities, and a review of all ICE detention facilities. This letter follows Crow's leadership inholding the ICE facility in Aurora publicly accountable since 2019. This letter is a follow-on to Crow's urging inJanuary andMay of 2021 for the Department of Homeland Security to phase out privately-operated immigration detention facilities under ICE.

"Throughout my time conducting oversight of this facility, continued public health concerns underscore how privately-run facilities fall short of our values as a nation. As I've demanded more accountability from GEO Group and ICE, I continue to believe that we can never live up to those values so long as companies are incentivized to run for-profit detention centers. Ending federal contracts altogether with these facilities is a first and critical step to fixing our broken immigration system in this country," said Congressman Crow.

"Studies consistently show that most people are best equipped to successfully complete their removal proceedings when they have full access to the support of their families and communities and legal representation. As you review the detention system, we ask that you halt the expansion of ICE detention and urge you to embrace community-based alternatives to detention," wrote the Members

After being denied entry to the ICE detention facility in his district in February 2019, Crow introduced the Public Oversight of Detention Centers (POD) Act to allow members of Congress to gain timely access to detention facilities. The POD Act was later enacted as part of the FY2020 government funding bill. Since July 2019, Rep. Crow's office has conducted regular visits to the Aurora Contract Detention Facility and published reports on their findingson the website.

See the full text of the letterhereand below:

Dear Secretary Mayorkas and Acting Director Johnson:

We greatly appreciate your work to undertake a more humane approach to immigration enforcement, including the critical move to end contracts with the Bristol County Sheriff's Office and the Irwin County Detention Center. Earlier this year, we also applauded President Biden's Executive Order instructing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to phase out its use of private prisons. We now write to express our concern over what appears to be an expansion of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention and respectfully request that you suspend any negotiations for new or expanded detention space with private prison contractors or county jails. We also ask that you clarify the Administration's civil detention policies, which we hope will reflect a commitment to ending the mass incarceration of immigrants.

Following the White House Executive Order ending privately operated prisons, Members of Congress called for the President to expand the order to include ICE detention. Unfortunately, it appears that ICE is moving in the opposite direction. On September 29, 2021, ICE signed a contract to detain up to 1,875 immigrants at the GEO Group-operated Moshannon Valley Correctional Center, a former Bureau of Prisons jail in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania. ICE is also expanding the Pennsylvania Berks County ICE detention center for use as an adult facility for women. Similarly, we are concerned that the private prison company CoreCivic may also be looking to ICE to take over an expiring U.S. Marshals Services contract with the West Tennessee Detention Facility. These facilities all have a long-documented history of substandard conditions and abuse.

These actions are being taken, at taxpayer expense, without justification for the resulting increase. In its January 2021 report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) documented wasteful spending resulting from the significant jump in the number of beds ICE agreed to in detention contracts signed during the Trump Administration. More recently, the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report in September 2021 on violations of ICE detention standards in the Otay Mesa facility, recommending that ICE review its contracting options to better identify housing requirements and determine if guaranteed minimums were necessary. Notably, ICE refused to concur with that recommendation. It is imperative that ICE review the number of beds ICE agreed to in detention contracts and provide clear justification to Congress before detention capacity is expanded further.

We are also concerned that ICE has extended existing contracts and entered into new ones in an effort to get ahead of changes in state and local law. For example, in 2019, the State of California passed AB32 which prohibits the operation of for-profit prisons and civil detention facilities in the State. In January 2020, just days before that law took effect, ICE hastily entered into new long term contracts in California with GEO Group. Further, in January 2021, after Washington State lawmakers introduced a bill to end private ICE detention, ICE modified its contract with GEO Group to extend the agreement for the 1,575-bed Northwest ICE Processing Center.8 Similarly, in August 2021, CoreCivic modified its 285-bed guaranteed minimum contract with ICE to extend its agreement to hold people in ICE detention in Elizabeth, New Jersey, after the New Jersey state legislature passed a bill to phase out immigration detention in the State.9 ICE must not be permitted to bypass state and local authority in this manner.

In light of these concerns, we urge you to consider the following recommendations:

• Suspend the expansion of ICE detention: Issue a directive to pause any negotiations between ICE and private companies or local governments to enter into new agreements or extend existing detention contracts;

• Shift away from private, for-profit ICE detention: Consistent with the January 2021 Executive Order, implement policies to phase out immigration detention contracts with private prison companies and local governments;

• Review all ICE detention facilities and policies: Conduct a thorough review of all detention facilities and policies with the goal of phasing out the systematic mass detention of immigrants. The review should include input from community groups, legal service providers, people impacted by detention, and other relevant stakeholders.

In addition, we request that you provide the information below no later than April 10, 2022.

• Pending contracts: Any solicitation or procurement proposals, including Requests for Information (RFIs) or Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for new or modified ICE detention agreements;

• DHS review process: An update on the already announced DHS detention review, including reports on the facilities reviewed, timelines and guidelines for the review process, standards for grading facilities, criteria for stakeholder and public engagement, records and testimonies considered in the review process, plans for future closures, and;

• New and extended contracts: Any copies of extended or new ICE detention contracts, including all modifications, work orders, addenda, or negotiations with private contracts and local governments.

In May 2021, you testified before Congress and expressed your concern about the excessive use of immigration detention.11 Studies consistently show that most people are best equipped to successfully complete their removal proceedings when they have full access to the support of their families and communities and legal representation. As you review the detention system, we ask that you halt the expansion of ICE detention and urge you to embrace community-based alternatives to detention.

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