Unlocking Liberty: A Way Forward for US Immigration - LIRS

A. ATD programming is less expensive and more cost-effective than detention.
“The cost argument is a simple one: detention costs considerably more than most alternatives to
detention.” 9 There are numerous factors that make ATD programs less costly: they reduce unnecessary
litigation, prevent facilities from being overcrowded, and curtail lengthy periods of detention. This
report tracks the dollars spent per day per person using detention versus ATD programs to achieve the
desired outcomes.
The average cost of immigration detention, as cited by the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS), is $122 per person per day. 10 However, this does not take into account the salaries and other
personnel costs needed to run a detention facility. When those are included, the total cost is about
$166 per day. 11 Even this figure does not represent the total operational costs per diem because on-site
medical care provided by the ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC), formerly known as the Division of
Immigration Health Services, and offsite medical care approved by IHSC are not taken into account. 12
The administration’s fiscal year (FY) 2012 budget request to Congress included $5.5 million per day for
immigration detention. 13 The House proposal would increase that amount, but, as of October 2011, the
Senate had not yet acted on the budget. 14 This cost will keep rising with the continued expansion of the
immigration detention system.
By contrast, a range of per diem ATD costs estimated by ICE demonstrates significant savings.
By one official estimate, the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP, discussed in Section
Two) had an average cost of $22 per person per day, offering a fiscally responsible alternative to
detention. 15 It is unclear if this dollar amount represents only the contract cost or also includes ICE
personnel assigned to the ATD unit and other expenditures, but many ATD estimates do not take
personnel-related costs into account. 16 The inclusion of costs for Fugitive Operations, a separate ICE
initiative, may inaccurately inflate some ATD per diem costs. ICE has also provided estimated direct
costs, i.e., without including cost of ICE staff time, for its leading ATD programs: $14.42 for ISAP, $8.52
for Enhanced Supervision Reporting (ESR), and between 30 cents and $5 for Electronic Monitoring
Program (EMP). 17 These costs are comparable to the direct costs of ICE’s Appearance Assistance
Program (AAP) which operated at a daily rate of only $12 per person. 18
Table 1 illustrates the increase in detention and removal spending from FY 2005 through 2011. It
also shows the small percentage of funds that go to detention alternatives compared with the amount
allocated to custody operations, i.e., the management of designated detention facilities and jails. In the
9. Alice Edwards, Back to Basics: The Right to Liberty and Security of Person and ‘Alternatives to Detention’ of Refugees, Asylum-Seekers, Stateless
Persons and Other Migrants (Geneva: UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 2011) (hereinafter UNHCR, Back to Basics). Also see Ophelia Field and
Alice Edwards, Alternatives to Detention of Asylum Seekers and Refugees (Geneva: UNHCR Division of International Protection Services, April 2006).
10. Statement of John Morton, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, transcript of House Appropriations Subcommittee
on Homeland Security Hearing on the Proposed Fiscal 2012 Appropriations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, March 11, 2011.
11. National Immigration Forum, The Math of Immigration Detention, August 2011, 2, http://www.immigrationforum.org/images/uploads/
MathofImmigrationDetention.pdf; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Salaries and Expenses, Fiscal Year 2012 Congressional Budget
Justification, 57, http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/dhs-congressional-budget-justification-fy2012.pdf.
12. Dora Schriro, Immigration Detention Overview and Recommendations.
13. National Immigration Forum, The Math of Immigration Detention.
14. Ibid.
15. U.S. House of Representatives, House Report 109-476 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, May 22, 2006), 38, www.gpo.gov/
fdsys/pkg/CRPT-109hrpt476/content-detail.html.
16. Dora Schriro, Immigration Detention Overview and Recommendations.
17. Donald Kerwin and Serena Yi-Ying Lin, Immigrant Detention: Can ICE Meet its Legal Imperatives and Case Management Responsibilities?
(Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute, September 2009), 32, http://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/2009_9_10.php.
18. Vera Institute for Justice, Testing Community Supervision for the INS: An Evaluation of the Appearance Assistance Program, 1 (New York: Vera
Institute for Justice, August 2000), 65, http://www.vera.org/download?file=615/finalreport.pdf (hereinafter Vera, Testing Community Supervision).
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