Arbitrary Detention? The Immigration Detention Bed Quota

45 Pages Posted: 18 Jan 2017

See all articles by Anita Sinha

Anita Sinha

American University - Washington College of Law

Date Written: January 16, 2017

Abstract

When President Obama took office in 2009, Congress through appropriations linked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) funding to “maintaining” 33,400 immigration detention beds a day. This provision, what this Article refers to as the bed quota, remains in effect, except now the mandate is 34,000 beds a day. Since 2009, DHS detentions of non-citizens have gone up by nearly 25 percent. To accommodate for this significant spike over a relatively short period of time, the federal government has relied considerably on private prison corporations to build and operate immigration detention facilities.

This Article takes a comprehensive look at the Congressional immigration detention bed quota. It details its legislative history, and the relationship between the quota and private prisons in the immigration detention system. It situates the provision in a conversation about quotas generally, both in the law enforcement context and also in relation to the significance of quotas in U.S. immigration law historically. The Article then examines the bed quota through the lens of foundational as well as present-day jurisprudence on immigration detention and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It also analyzes the quota through international human rights law, particularly the protections related to arbitrary detention and vulnerable migrants. The Article concludes with policy considerations that caution against Congress imposing the immigration detention bed quota.

Keywords: Immigration, Detention, Private Prison Corporations, Appropriations, Due Process, International Human Rights Law

Suggested Citation

Sinha, Anita, Arbitrary Detention? The Immigration Detention Bed Quota (January 16, 2017). Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy, Vol. 12, 2017, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2900391

Anita Sinha (Contact Author)

American University - Washington College of Law ( email )

4300 Nebraska Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20016
United States

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