DHS Secretary Calls for Review and Evaluation of Private Immigration Detention Centers

Jeh Johnson (Photo by Gage Skidmore)

Here is what United States Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said Monday about privately-run immigration detention centers:

On August 18, the Department of Justice announced that the Bureau of Prisons will reduce and ultimately end its use of private prisons. On Friday, I directed our Homeland Security Advisory Council, chaired by Judge William Webster, to evaluate whether the immigration detention operations conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement should move in the same direction.  Specifically, I have asked that Judge Webster establish a Subcommittee of the Council to review our current policy and practices concerning the use of private immigration detention and evaluate whether this practice should be eliminated. I asked that the Subcommittee consider all factors concerning ICE’s detention policy and practice, including fiscal considerations.

A subcommittee of the HSAC will undertake this review, and the full HSAC will provide to me and the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement its written report of its evaluation no later than November 30, 2016.

As a result of Johnson’s announcement, stock prices for the Corrections Corp of America and The GEO Group dropped.

Even though the evaluation will not be available until after the presidential election, this is a still a big deal. And to think, it only took years for the Obama Administration to finally wake up to something many of us have been paying attention to for a while now.