• 22
  • December
    2011

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012, which includes the controversial payroll tax cut, also increases funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). If the bill is passed, ICE will receive more than $50 million than last year, including funding for 34,000 additional detention beds and for immigration enforcement (deportation/detention/removal). Furthermore, U.S. Customs and Border Protection would receive $11.7 billion, which is $362 million more than last year.

The additional detention beds will put U.S. detention capacity at the largest it has been since ICE was created.

Some of this money will go to a federally-funded detention center to be built in South Florida. Since June, ICE, in collaboration with Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), has been planning to build a large immigration detention center in Southwest Ranches. That center would be able to hold at least 1,500 detention beds. Multiple organizations and politicians have opposed the construction, some on principle and others because they are worried about the potential impact on nearby communities.

The South Florida detention center would be CCA's 15th detention facility contracted by ICE. In total, the facilities have 14,556 beds and house approximately 6,199 detained immigrants per day.

States around the country have increased immigration enforcement and the federal government reports that it has deported more than 396,000 people this year. This is the largest number of deportees in ICE's history. Apparently, the federal government expects even more deportations next year.

In this anti-immigrant environment, it is more important than ever to have experienced legal help behind you if you face detention or deportation. Whether you were targeted in an immigration raid or face removal after committing an aggravated felony or crime of moral turpitude, turn to a lawyer experienced in deportation defense.

Source: House Appropriations Committee, "Summary: Fiscal Year 2012 Final Consolidation Appropriations Bill," Chairman Hal Rogers, Dec. 15, 2011.