The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Although ICE has made considerable progress over the past
several years in identifying and removing criminal aliens
through its Criminal Alien Program (CAP), a fundamental change
in ICE’s current approach is required to reach the goal of
identifying and removing all aliens convicted of a crime. ICE
currently screens all inmates referred to ICE who claim to be
foreign-born at all federal and state prisons. In addition, any
law enforcement agency can query the immigration status of an
individual they encounter through ICE’s Law Enforcement Support
Center (LESC). CAP officers routinely visit or are dispatched
to local jails requesting assistance and have contributed to
the increased success of identifying and removing criminal
aliens in custody.

In FY 2008, ICE identified and charged more than 221,000 aliens
in jails for immigration violations – more than triple the
number charged just two years ago. Leveraging integration
technology that shares law enforcement data between federal,
state and local law enforcement agencies, ICE is now able to
expand coverage nationwide in a cost effective manner.
Interoperability between the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s
(FBI’s) Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System
(IAFIS) and DHS’ Automated Biometric Identification System
(IDENT) will help ICE and local law enforcement officers
positively identify criminal aliens in prisons and jails.

Given that a nationwide jail/prison reporting system does not
exist to determine the total number of criminal aliens in the
United States, ICE extrapolated from various sources and
estimates that about 300,000 to 450,000 criminal aliens who are
potentially removable are detained each year at federal, state,
and local prisons and jails. Criminal aliens who are
potentially removable include illegal aliens in the United
States who are convicted of any crime and lawful permanent
residents (such as holders of a U.S. Permanent Resident Card)
who are convicted of a removable offense as defined by the
Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
Strategic Goals for Secure Communities

ICE has delineated four key strategic goals for the Secure
Communities plan:

* Strategic Goal 1 – Identify and process all criminal
aliens amenable for removal while in federal, state, and
local custody;
* Strategic Goal 2 – Enhance current detention strategies
to ensure no removable alien is released into the community
due to a lack of detention space or an appropriate
alternative to detention;
* Strategic Goal 3 – Implement removal initiatives that
shorten the time aliens remain in ICE custody prior to
removal, thereby maximizing the use of detention resources
and reducing cost; and
* Strategic Goal 4 – Maximize cost effectiveness and
long-term success through deterrence and reduced
recidivism.

The following three levels are illustrative of the plan’s
risk-based approach. These levels will be used to allocate
appropriate resources to identifying and determining the
immigration status of aliens arrested for a crime that pose the
greatest risk to the public.

* Level 1 – Individuals who have been convicted of major
drug offenses and violent offenses such as murder,
manslaughter, rape, robbery, and kidnapping;
* Level 2 – Individuals who have been convicted of minor
drug offenses and mainly property offenses such as
burglary, larceny, fraud, and money laundering; and
* Level 3 – Individuals who have been convicted of other
offenses.

Ensuring the identification and expedited removal of so many
criminal aliens on an ongoing basis will require a sustained
effort. The cornerstone of the plan is to increase state and
local partnerships to ensure time sensitive screening of all
foreign-born detainees and identification of criminal aliens.
ICE is assessing technology solutions to seamlessly integrate
local booking data so that ICE can determine eligibility for
removal and quickly prioritize each case to initiate the
appropriate level of response.

The plan brings together the expertise and commitment from all
parts of ICE, the interagency community, and state and local
law enforcement agencies. ICE’s partners within DHS include
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Customs and
Border Protection (CBP), and the United States Visitor and
Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) Program. ICE’s
federal interagency partners include the Bureau of Prisons
(BOP), Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR), U.S.
Attorneys, Department of State (DOS), Department of Justice
(DOJ), U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and FBI’s Criminal Justice
Information Services Division (CJIS). Ongoing success will
require enhancements to the nation’s immigration strategy and
providing even greater disincentives for recidivists.
Overview of ICE’s Criminal Alien Program

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) established
the Institutional Removal Program (IRP) in 1988 as a result of
the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986. IRCA
required the INS to initiate deportation proceedings for all
criminal aliens, at federal, state, and local prisons as
expeditiously as possible after the date of conviction. At the
INS, the Office of Investigations (OI) and Detention and
Removal Operations (DRO) jointly managed the IRP, which covered
about 30 federal institutions and a limited number of state
institutions. INS/OI also had responsibility for the Alien
Criminal Apprehension Program (ACAP). The ACAP was responsible
for the identification, processing, prosecution, and removal of
all criminal aliens in institutions not participating in the
IRP.

When ICE was established in 2003, the agency recognized that
additional effort and resources were needed to address the
criminal alien problem at federal, state, and local jails and
prisons. In June 2007, DRO assumed complete responsibility and
oversight of both IRP and ACAP and combined both programs into
the Criminal Alien Program (CAP). ICE adopted a risk-based
approach to address the criminal alien population in U.S. jails
and prisons and deployed CAP teams to institutions whose
inmates posed the greatest threat to the community if released.
CAP began utilizing video teleconference (VTC) equipment to
expand its reach into more jails and prisons. In June 2006, DRO
formed the Detention Enforcement and Processing Offenders by
Remote Technology (DEPORT) Center in Chicago, IL. Today the
DEPORT Center screens and processes criminal aliens at 87 BOP
facilities. CAP also works closely with the United States
Attorney’s Office to prosecute aggressively criminal aliens who
have reentered the United States after having been previously
removed thereby creating a deterrent to illegal reentry by
previously removed criminal aliens.

CAP teams focus on identifying, detaining, and removing
criminal aliens and in FY 2008 the teams issued charging
documents on more than 221,000 removable aliens in federal,
state, and local custody. Many of these aliens are still
serving sentences. In FY 2008, ICE removed 350,000 aliens,
nearly 110,000 with criminal histories. In FY 2007, ICE removed
approximately 278,000 aliens, about 95,000 with criminal
histories.

In order to ensure that current CAP resources are deployed
effectively, ICE conducted a risk assessment of federal, state,
and local prisons and jails. The risk assessment provides
valuable information for determining which facilities house the
most removable aliens and which represent institutions of
highest risk. The assessment classified all facilities into
four tiers, with Tier 1 representing the highest risk to
national security and public safety and Tier 4 representing the
lowest risk. In rank order, ICE is moving toward 100 percent
screening of foreign-born individuals in each facility.
Currently, all Tier 1 and Tier 2 facilities have 100 percent
screening, including all BOP institutions and state prisons. In
order to achieve screening at all remaining facilities, an
infusion of new partnerships, technology, process improvements,
and resources will be necessary.

To address the high-risk BOP correctional institutions, ICE
established the DEPORT Center in Chicago. DEPORT supports the
screening, interviewing and removal processing of all criminal
aliens incarcerated in BOP facilities nationwide, often using
video teleconferencing. Since its inception, DEPORT has
screened over 33,000 cases, issued more than 17,000 charging
documents to begin removal proceedings, and lodged more than
11,000 detainers. The success of DEPORT is a combination of
shared databases including BOP Sentry - a real-time computer
system updated 24 hours a day by BOP staff in field offices.
Staffers enter and update inmate information from the time the
inmate is sentenced until he/she is released from federal
custody.
Resource Overview for Secure Communities

The total costs estimated to remove all Level 1, 2, and 3
convicted criminal aliens each year in all federal, state, and
local prisons ranges from roughly $2 billion to $3 billion.
This cost range assumes that aliens incarcerated in local jails
have an average length of time in custody of three to six
months. The costs are high level estimates that will be revised
regularly as the plan is implemented based on detailed business
requirements, inputs from ICE partners, and updates to criminal
alien population figures. ICE estimates that it may take up to
two years to develop an automated process to search and
prioritize leads from Interoperability based on the levels of
criminality. Until such time, ICE will develop strategies for
implementing the gradual rollout of Interoperability using a
more manual searching process. Cost estimates therefore will
need to be modified as implementation begins, and resources may
need to shift to fill the gap between start-up and full
implementation.
Level One Implementation

ICE plans to phase-in the implementation of this initiative,
starting with Level 1 criminal aliens. The total Level 1 costs,
including systems and infrastructure, are estimated to be
between approximately $930 million and $1.1 billion. ICE
anticipates an implementation timeline of 3.5 years to remove
all removable Level 1 criminal aliens to ensure program
efficiency and effectiveness. Congress provided $200 million in
the FY 2008 Appropriations bill to begin implementing this plan
and an addition $150 million for FY’s 2009 and 2010.
Identifying criminal aliens in the past

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) established
the Institutional Removal Program (IRP) in 1988, which only
covered approximately 30 federal institutions and a limited
number of state facilities. INS also had responsibility for the
Alien Criminal Apprehension Program (ACAP). Under ACAP, INS
officers were responsible for identifying, processing,
prosecuting, and removing criminal aliens in institutions not
participating in the IRP.

In FY2003, there were only two signed 287(g) agreements to
train and authorize local officers to enforce immigration law.
The way it works now

In June 2006, ICE formed the Detention Enforcement and
Processing Offenders by Remote Technology (DEPORT) Center in
Chicago. Today ICE screens and processes criminal aliens at all
Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facilities. In addition, ICE began
using video teleconference (VTC) equipment to expand its reach
into more jails and prisons.

Criminal Alien Program (CAP) teams respond to local law
enforcement agencies’ requests to determine the alienage of
individuals arrested for crimes and other immigration violators
as resources permit. Under CAP, ICE identified and issued
charging documents on more than 221,000 incarcerated criminal
aliens in FY 2008. CAP teams identified more than 164,000
incarcerated criminal aliens in FY 2007 and 67,000 in FY 2006.

ICE conducts screenings of all inmates who claim to be
foreign-born at all federal and state prisons. In addition, any
law enforcement agency can query the immigration status of an
individual they encounter through ICE’s Law Enforcement Support
Center (LESC). CAP officers routinely visit or are dispatched
to local jails requesting assistance and have contributed to
the increased success of identifying and removing criminal
aliens in custody.

ICE 287(g) program has provided more than 40 local law
enforcement agencies with access to DHS databases at their
detention centers where trained officers can review the
immigration information, determine alienage, and initiate
removal proceedings. There are a total of 67 jail, task force,
or combined 287(g) agreements nationwide credited for
identifying more than 75,000 individuals for possible
immigration violations. Most local law enforcement agencies
notify ICE of a foreign-born detainee; then an ICE officer must
conduct an interview to determine the alienage of the suspect
and initiate removal proceedings, if appropriate.
Key Enhancements in Secure Communities

* ICE will continue working with its partners to distribute
integration technology that links local law enforcement
agencies to both FBI and DHS biometric databases.
* Currently, as part of the routine booking process, local
officers submit an arrested person’s fingerprints through
FBI databases to access that individual’s criminal history.
With interoperability, those fingerprints are also
automatically checked against DHS databases to access
immigration history information.
* The automated process notifies ICE when fingerprints
match those of an immigration violator. ICE officers
conduct follow-up interviews and take appropriate action.
* ICE will identify removable criminal aliens and
prioritize their removal based on the threat they pose to
the community.
* ICE will continue working with local, state and federal
detention centers and the Department of Justice Executive
Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) to increase the number
of facilities that use video teleconferencing technology.
* Working with ICE, U.S. Attorney’s Offices will seek to
prosecute more criminal aliens who illegally re-enter the
country. This initiative is aimed at deterring recidivism.
* ICE will streamline processes for Detention and Removal
Operations including the expanded use of the Alternatives
to Detention Program (ATD) and by more efficiently
obtaining removal orders and travel documents before
criminal aliens are released from local custody.
* ICE will continue and expand the use of its Rapid REPAT
(Removal of Eligible Parolees Accepted for Transfer)
program whereby criminal aliens serving state sentences
receive early parole in exchange for assisting in their
removal from the United States. The programs are restricted
to criminal aliens who have not been convicted of serious
felonies and who have no history of violence. The program
has proven successful in New York and Arizona thus far and
ICE seeks to establish Rapid REPAT programs in four
additional states by the end of FY 2008.
* ICE will provide 24/7 nationwide operational coverage for
the Criminal Alien Program by assigning additional
personnel in field offices, standing up command centers in
priority areas, and expanding use of video teleconferencing
to remotely interview and process suspected aliens.
* ICE will seek to increase local law enforcement
partnerships through 287(g) cross-designation that allows
trained officers to interview and initiate removal
proceedings of aliens processed through their detention
facilities.