Freed but not free
- Document number
- 2930
- Date
- 2012
- Title
- Freed but not free
- Author/publisher
- Rutgers School of Law-Newark Immigrant Rights Clinic
- Availability
- View/save PDF version of this document
- Document type(s)
- Guidelines/Recommendations, International Law, Research/Study/Analysis,
- Keywords
- immigration, human rights, United States
- Summary
-
In May 2011, the White House released a report entitled, “Building a 21st Century Immigration System.” In recognition of the need to balance the valuable economic contributions made by immigrants with the need to secure the nation’s borders, the Obama Administration detailed its “blueprint” to remedy issues related to unlawful immigration as well as to strengthen the economy. The document also included other proposals for change, such as creating a more humane immigration system, providing clearer compliance guidance, and improving the immigration court system. Among its many outlined solutions, the Obama Administration made clear its desire to remedy critical detention issues, including expanding the capacity of alternative to detention (ATD) programs. As the use of ATD programs increases, the need to examine such programs to ensure they are being carried out fairly and effectively also becomes greater.
As set forth in further detail in the report, immigration detention is costly, and it is unnecessary except in rare cases. For this reason, many advocates have called for an increase in alternatives to detention. Despite the proven effectiveness of many alternatives to detention, as this report makes clear, the capacity of the current ATD system is insufficient. At present, many individuals who are released from detention are placed on an Order of Release on Recognizance (ROR) or an Order of Supervision (OSUP), under which participants are required to check in periodically with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), among other requirements. Some of those individuals are subject to the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP), which includes an electronic monitoring component and is administered by a private company.
This report attempts to examine the use, enforcement, restrictions, and human impact of the existing ATD programs in New Jersey and nationally. For the thousands of individuals that ICE places on supervisory programs—many of whom have been determined to be neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community—ATD programs can be both liberating and debilitating. This report highlights the economic, psychological, emotional, and physical toll faced by individuals under ATD programs and proposes some recommendations for reform.
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