| < PREVIOUS PAGE |
The Detention and Deportation Program, now the office of Detention and
Removal (DRO), was established in a 1955 reorganization of the INS to carry out
a mission first articulated in the Alien and sedition Acts of 1798. The Alien and Sedition Acts included
the earliest deportation legislation, which empowered the President to
order the departure from the United States of all aliens deemed dangerous. Legislation since then has expanded the
detention and removal operations and redefined the classes of aliens to be
deported or excluded. The basic
mission, however, remains the same:
Remove all removable aliens.
The Immigration and Nationally Act (INA) of 1952 expanded the federal
expulsion power to include a wider category of aliens. The INA listed 19 general classes of deportable
aliens
and provided for exclusion (at the time of application for admission)
to the United States on health, criminal, moral, economic, subversive, and
other grounds. The illegal Immigration
Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) of 1996 expanded the number of
crimes that made people subject to removal. It also eliminated DRO’s discretion to release certain
aliens by requiring that virtually any non-citizen subject to removal on the
basis of a criminal conviction, as well as certain categories of non-criminal
aliens, to be detained without bond.
As a result of these acts and other legislation, DRO is required to
detain and remove a much larger and more diverse population. The current population requires unique
facilities, procedures and management depending on risk, criminal category,
nationality, health and other special needs.
Similarly, operations, policy and legislation that were developed in
response to the September 11 attacks (such as the Border Security Act and the USA
PATRIOT Act) further expanded DRO’s operational area of
responsibility. These Acts, in
particular, have reprioritized national immigration enforcement efforts and
this program’s responsibilities and operations. By implementing this strategic plan and providing a guide to
conduct operations, this program is making strides in altering it’s operations
and resource requirements to support both current and future immigration
related policy, events and activity.
A)
Reorganizations: DRO was integrated into the Department of Homeland
Security’s Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 31,
2003. Notwithstanding the impact
this transition will have on DRO, the program’s mission and core functions
(custody management and removal) will remain the same. The most significant changes will be
seen in the organizational structure, chains of command, and hierarchy. This plan is focused on the program’s
core business functions and key processes and will, therefore, not be
significantly impacted by the final reorganization decisions.
B)
Demands for Service: An effective enforcement program requires that a significant
risk of apprehension be combined with a high likelihood that apprehension will
result in removal. With high
enough risk of apprehension and sufficient likelihood of removal, the incidence
of illegal activities will decline, improving law enforcement effectiveness. The national strategy for law enforcement
must address the priority of removals.
The ‘endgame’ of immigration law enforcement is the removal of
individuals who have received final orders of removal. This is the essence of DRO’s
mission. Improvements in the
operational effectiveness of apprehensions will create an increased requirement
for processing and removing offenders.
Therefore, to successfully complete the enforcement process, the
removals program must be as vigorous as other enforcement programs. DRO needs appropriate resources to
ensure that removal does, in fact, result surely from apprehension. Otherwise, the workload resulting from
enhancements to and increased efficiencies within other DHS programs will be
made in vain without an equally enhanced detention and removals program.
As part of the DHS immigration and law enforcement mission, the DRO
program has the primary responsibility of providing adequate and appropriate
custody management (including bed space), supporting removals, facilitating the
processing of illegal aliens through the immigration court, and enforcing their
departure from the United States.
Key elements in exercising those responsibilities include: identifying
and removing all high-risk illegal alien absconders; ensuring that those
aliens who have already been identified as criminals are expeditiously removed;
and developing and maintaining a robust removals program with the capacity to
remove all final order cases issued annually, thus precluding growth in the
illegal alien absconder populations.
Simply stated, DRO’s ultimate goal is to develop the capacity to remove
all removable aliens.
Integral to making America more secure, DHS detention and removal
operations provide the final step in the immigration enforcement process. To accomplish this mission, DRO will be
vigorous in its efforts to provide services commensurate to the demand from and
efforts expended by other enforcement programs and agencies. DRO will increase its overall number of
removals annually in order to thwart and deter continued growth in the illegal
alien population. Moving toward a
100% rate of removal for all removable aliens is critical to allow the ICE to
provide the level of immigration enforcement necessary to keep America secure. Without this final step in the process,
apprehensions made by other DHS programs cannot truly contribute to national
security.
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT)
Endgame was developed with both the positive and negative aspects
of the program in mind. DRO will
exploit its strengths and minimize its weaknesses in order to capitalize on
available opportunities and overcome the challenges it faces in pursuit of its
mission.
DRO’s success will be attributed
to the strength of its leadership, current and planned initiatives, the
experience and dedication of its workforce and an unquestionable commitment
from the entire program to execute this plan and the critical planning process
within which is a part. The
current workforce has the experience, dedication and corporate knowledge needed
to build the foundation from which this plan will be launched and from which
the program capacity will be both built and enhanced. DRO’s workforce is supported by time-proven processes to remove
illegal aliens from the country and the maintenance of detention facilities
against standards more stringent than the national norm.
1.
Leadership:
DRO leadership believes that “failing to plan is planning to fail” and
therefore supports this strategic plan and a planning process that fully integrates
operations and performance with resource needs. DRO leadership is committed to executing this plan and its
strategies to accomplish the mission and attain the vision by empowering the
DRO workforce to think globally, work smarter and take responsibility for
executing a critical function of the entire immigration enforcement process.
2.
Workforce:
The DRO core business functions (custody management and removal) demand
that the DRO officer corps maintain broad and expert knowledge of all
applicable immigration laws, policy and procedures; they do so. The DRO officer corps has the education
and experience to manage ICE’s unique population while simultaneously carrying
out proper enforcement action.
Because of their diverse workload and broad immigration knowledge, DRO
officers are often called on to serve on review panels that recommend parole,
release or other relief for aliens in accordance with the law. They are also authorized and mandated
to discuss and act on immigration issues with aliens being processed for
administrative immigration violations.
3.
Unique Population and Detention Standards: The detained alien population is unique
and extremely diverse. Detained
aliens are in administrative custody (versus punitive or correctional) and are
therefore afforded rights and privileges not gained by prisoners incarcerated
in other federal institutions. For
this reason, DRO conducts routine inspections of it’s facilities and operations
to ensure that they are in compliance
with approved standards, that aliens are treated humanely, and that they
are safe and secure. DRO manages
its own Detention Management Control Plan (DMCP) to ensure its facilities
comply with American Correctional Association detention standards and
their own more stringent and comprehensive ICE Detention Standards. Through execution of thorough and
routine inspections outlined in the DMCP, DRO ensures its facilities are
operated in a professional manner and are compliant with appropriate codes,
standards, and regulations.
a)
Health Care:
DRI is expanding its health care delivery system to fit current and
future needs in the most cost-effective way. This includes increasing the services currently provided by
the Public Health Service (PHS).
It also includes an overall upgrade of the Immigration Health
Information System (IHIS), involving the creation of an electronic surveillance
system for communicable diseases that will help control costs and significantly
increase administrative efficiency.
This initiative will allow PHS to maintain appropriate staff levels
needed to provide requisite detainee health care. It will especially enhance the movement of detainees to the
most optimal site based on their health conditions and will clear them for
removal more quickly.
b.
Chaplaincy:
DRO gas requested positions be created to place chaplains in each of its
Service Processing Centers (SPCs) to ensure that detainees of different faiths
are provided reasonable and equitable opportunities to pursue their respective
religious practices. This initiative
will satisfy detention standards that allow for the practice of various
religions, unique food provisions, and spiritual needs during terminal illness
and death. The chaplain will also
be responsible for advising the Officer in Charge in matters of religious
holiday observance, religious diets, religious personal property, dress and
contraband.
4.
September 11 Awareness: The unprecedented terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001
heightened awareness among the public and governments worldwide of the critical
importance of enforcing immigration laws and sharing information and
intelligence. Since then, the U.
S. has reviewed its own business practices regarding immigration and homeland
defense and, in doing so, has identified critical gaps that are now being
addressed and resolved. This
worldwide focus on immigration provides the opportunity to develop and enhance
relationships and cooperation with foreign governments and, most importantly,
among U. S. law enforcement, border control and defense agencies. Finally it has afforded the DRO and the
DHS an opportunity to educate the public on the critical mission and role they
play in the immigration enforcement process.
1.
Lack of Empirical Models: The DRO mission cannot be accomplished without appropriate
human resources, yet the program does not have reliable models to determine
what the true workload-to-personnel ratio should be. Although a new financial management system, the Federal
Financial Management System (FFMS), is being fielded that will enhance the
management of current fiscal resources, DRO does not have the capability to
conduct detailed financial analysis and resource identification utilizing the
current system. Also, lacking is a
documented business model and accurate cost data to support future budgetary
planning, resource allocation, cost optimization, and GPRA requirements.
2.
Human Resource Shortfall: The program experienced relatively gradual growth in key
areas from 1998 to 2001 (end of year 2002 numbers were not available while
drafting this plan). The DRO staff
grew by only three percent, which was slightly slower than the four percent
growth in the docket or caseload.
While the program is making progress, increasing removals by 11 percent,
staff growth is only barely keeping pace with the growing docket. Staff growth must exceed docket growth
if the program is going to begin making progress on diminishing and eliminating
the existing backlog. Detention
and Removal resources have not kept pace with the increased number of
apprehensions generated by explosive growth in Border Patrol and Inspections
since 1996. Since that time, these
apprehensions resources have increased by 64 percent while DRO forces have
increased by only 37 percent.
While DRO does not have empirical models to show the optimal ratio of
DRO forces to apprehension assets, it is clear that this asymmetrical growth
has put severe strains on the program.
Its ability to follow up on apprehensions, to effectively manage the
processing of cases through the immigration courts, and to remove those ordered
removed has been hindered.
| < PREVIOUS PAGE |