Joe Biden Considers Abolishing Most ICE Detention of Criminal Illegal Aliens

FLORENCE, AZ - FEBRUARY 28: Immigrant detainees walk through the Immigration and Customs E
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President Joe Biden is considering ending most Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention of criminal illegal aliens, according to a report.

On Tuesday, billed as a “racial equity” agenda, Biden announced that he would instruct the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to end its contracts with privately-managed prisons that hold more than 14,000 convicts — nearly all of which are foreign nationals.

In addition, the open borders lobby is urging Biden to end ICE’s contracts with privately-managed detention facilities which hold the overwhelming majority of criminal illegal aliens for the agency. Sources close to the Biden administration said the idea is being floated around the White House.

Politico reports:

President Joe Biden is considering an executive order to phase out government contracts with private immigrant detention facilities, multiple sources with knowledge of the process say. But he has no immediate plans to issue such an order and the White House would only say that it “will take additional action in the future relating to the detention of undocumented immigrants.”
[Emphasis added]

Two advocates told POLITICO that, as of Tuesday, they did not believe an order would ultimately materialize. The White House plans to roll out other immigration-related executive actions later this week. In a briefing on Tuesday, Susan Rice, the director of Biden’s domestic policy council, said that the order pertaining to private prisons is “silent on what may or may not transpire with ICE facilities.” [Emphasis added]

Currently, more than 14,000 detainees are in ICE custody.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is pushing the Biden administration to sign such an executive order, writing in a post that “we must include ending for-profit immigrant detention & examine the use of for-profit services that squeeze families of the incarcerated in public prisons, too.”

According to the most recent totals provided to Breitbart News, more than 80 percent of illegal aliens in ICE detention are held in privately-managed facilities. Their abolishment would mean less detention space for ICE and in return would force fewer arrests and a drop-off in deportations.

Already, Biden has signed executive orders to relax interior immigration enforcement and halt deportations of all illegal aliens, unless they are convicted of aggravated felonies. The deportation order has been stopped by a federal judge after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit.

Biden’s order, which came in the form of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memo, mandates that ICE agents only arrest illegal aliens who have been convicted of aggravated felonies, are known or suspected terrorists, or those apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border after November 1, 2020.

Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) Director of Policy Jessica Vaughan notes that the Biden order means that ICE can only arrest, detain, and deport “at most” about 15 percent of the nation’s illegal alien population.

“This is the part that is enticing more migrants to the border,” Vaughan wrote in a post.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com.

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