The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it will look into whether it should end its relationship with the private companies that run migrant-detentions centers, a move that would signal a major shift in policy and likely appease immigrant-rights advocates.
DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson made the announcement Monday, and said the review should be finished by the end of November. The U.S. government has depended heavily on private contractors to run its migrant-detention centers, and it’s not clear what it would use as an alternative. These centers house undocumented migrants who’ve committed a deportable crime, migrants fighting deportation orders, and those caught crossing the border illegally and who are waiting for their immigration court dates. Private detention centers house 62 percent of all detained migrants, which is up 13 percent from 2009.
If it were to end its contracts with private detention centers, the government would either need to build new facilities, drastically reduce the number of migrants in detention, or lean upon other forms of monitoring migrants while they await court dates or deportation.
[For more of this story, written by J. Weston Phippen, go to http://www.theatlantic.com/new...nters-review/498032/]
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