Under the Same Stars, Julie's March Viewpoint for Monadnock Ledger Transcript
ATD: what you need to know to help end indiscriminate detention of asylum seekers!
The current system of indiscriminate universal detention of asylum seekers in our country and state is inhumane, irrelevant to public safety and a wasteful, expensive use of government resources.
Evidence-based studies consistently prove community-based programs (ATD or Alternatives to Detention) to be safer, vastly less expensive, and far more effective at ensuring compliance, including dependable attendance at court dates. Most importantly, community-based alternatives offer a framework for refugee and migrant processing that is welcoming and allows families remain together, whether they are ultimately entitled to stay or deported.
Indiscriminate detention does nothing to make the public safer.
Seeking asylum is legal. Long term, indefinite and indiscriminate detention serves no purpose. In fact, reducing numbers in detention would focus Homeland Security and ICE on the small percent, including criminals, who really do pose a risk.
“Indiscriminate immigration enforcement undermines public safety as residents fear interacting with local law enforcement, and policing resources are deployed away from more effective crime prevention and enforcement,” according to the Justice Policy Institute.
More than 75% of detainees could safely be in ATD instead of lock-up, according to the ACLU.
Detention is a huge and unnecessary burden on taxpayers.
ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is responsible for 1,478 ICE-run facilities, lucrative private prisons and local government jails, sucking up more than $8 million a day in federal taxpayer dollars.
ATD costs run less than 7% of the cost of detention, according to the GAO (Government Accountability Office, 2014). The average ATD contract costs between $5-6 per day. Compare that to $208, the average per-day cost of detention nationwide. Stafford County Jail in Dover NH houses only adult immigrants, costing federal taxpayers $89 per person per day.
Community-based ATD programs have a great track record.
Statistics show that the vast majority of asylum seekers in alternative programs with local, individualized case management appear at hearings dependably, without detention. The common thread is they are largely community-initiated and coordinated. See the sidebar on this page for real-life examples. Note that the privatized-for-profit model was the least cost efficient.
ATD stabilizes families and empowers breadwinners.
Incarceration isolates immigrants from their families, faith groups, community support systems, legal representation, employment and often native language.
There are different forms of ATD.
Alternative Accompaniment Programs similar to the long-running federal Refugee Resettlement Program) allow immigrants to work (with permit granted after 180 days) living with family, volunteers, or in group homes, while the courts process their immigration cases.
Post Release Accompaniment Programs assist immigrants in obtainingrelease from detention, enhancing their ability to build their case from the outside, offering housing, legal assistance and transportation to immigration court.
Revolving Immigration Detention Bond Funds are evidence that immigrants do not need to wear electronic monitors, produce their own inflated cash bond ($7,000 - $20,000) or stay in prison to ensure compliance with legal proceedings.
What can we do to help?
Call/write your U.S. Representatives and Senators to reinstate and expand Alternatives to Detention and end indiscriminate detention of asylum seekers and immigrants.
Check out Keene-based projecthomenh.org . Consider donating towards the NH immigrant bond fund https://www.nhcucc, joining a Project Home accompaniment support team and/or opening your home to an asylum seeker.
Ask candidates for office at every level what they will do to end ICE detainers in our state, reduce the numbers in detention nationwide by 75%, and re-institute ATD for asylum seekers.
For more examples of community-based alternatives and legal analysis on viability, read Freedom for Immigrants' report, Rebuilding Trust: A Case Study for Closing and Repurposing Immigration Detention Facilities.
Julie Zimmer of Peterborough is a retired educator and grandmother to two dual citizens.
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[Separate Sidebar]
Examples of Successful ATD programs
shuttered under the current administration.
- Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service pilot program: including housing, compliance orientations, access to legal representation and case management,$50/day for entire family compared to estimated detention cost of $798/day.
97% compliance at hearings.
- US Council of Catholic Bishops: 90 days of case management to reunited families in 2018, $16/day/family. compared to detention at $318.
- 1997 - 2000 INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) program: saved taxpayers $4,000 per participant; 91% overall appearance rate at hearings, 93% appearance rate for asylum seekers.
- ICE’s own short-lived Family Case Management Program (FCMP), discontinued 7/17: families received tailored caseworker support. Compliance rates over 99% with court hearings and ICE appointments, high rate of compliance with removals and departures. “At a cost below detention,” the final price tag included paying a private prison contractor an average $18,000 per person, for (unknown) # days.
~ from “The Real Alternatives to Detention” by Justice for Immigrants.
