A Closer Look at U.S. Immigration Detention
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- 6 min read
Citizenship laws were first introduced in 1790 when distinctions were made about which residents would be granted citizenship status. In New Jersey in 1892, Ellis Island became the first site of a detention center reserved for immigrants who were prohibited from entering or remaining in the United States. On the West Coast in California, Angel Island also functioned as a detention center during its years of operation from 1910 to 1940.
With the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, deportation became more common than detention, which declined and remained relatively low for several decades. During the 1980s, the privatization of prisons emerged. The “1996 laws” followed a decade later, expanding to include more immigrants held for “crimes of moral turpitude,” such as nonviolent drug offenses. Other countries across the globe began following U.S. trends.
As of February 2025, the U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement Agency (ICE) is the largest law enforcement agency, with the highest detention rate in U.S. history. This rapid expansion and its nationwide consequences warrant an examination of the facilities that house immigrants.
Comprehensive, compassionate immigration reform is one of Mormon Women for Ethical Government’s areas of advocacy, with this principle at the heart of our efforts:
People have moral responsibilities to provide succor and relief to their fellow human beings fleeing war, violence, persecution, and natural disasters, regardless of their race, nationality, or religion (see Leviticus 19:33-34, Matthew 25:31-40, and Alma 27:21-24).
With this in mind, we engage with some of the realities about immigration detention and suggest ways to advocate for laws and treatment that align with our principles.
Who: Detainees and detaining agencies
ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) work under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to detain people awaiting immigration hearings or deportation, or those who pose safety or flight risks. Under the direction of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) provides mandatory but temporary shelter for noncitizen unaccompanied minors. These agencies detain people rather than jail or imprison them due to civil rather than criminal charges. The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), operated by the Department of Justice (DOJ), detains a much smaller number of immigrants who are charged with federal crimes.
People waiting in detention include immigrants of various statuses, including refugees, and people in many kinds of family formations: single adults, entire and partial families, pregnant women and girls, and unaccompanied minors. Those detained come from countries all over the world.
Example: In February 2026, reporter Mica Rosenberg obtained letters and pictures drawn by some of the children detained in the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, a family detention center in Dilley, Texas. A 9-year-old wrote that she had been in the center for 50 days, saying it’s “too long” and that she wanted to return to Venezuela after having lived in the U.S. for more than two years. A 14-year-old detained in Dilley for 45 days wrote about living in the U.S. for seven years and never feeling more “fear to go to a place” as she does about being deported to Honduras, her country of origin.
What: Types of centers
In the U.S., 90% of detention centers are privately contracted and for-profit, with two companies, Geo Group and CoreCivic, winning most of the government’s contracts. After the massive boost in ICE’s budget, the revenue for these two companies is increasing exponentially. Ethical issues about profiting from holding people in detention persist. Meanwhile, the detention center building and management industry creates jobs and appeals to investors, creating an economic dependency that threatens scaling back in the future.
There are a few different categories representing the types of detention centers:
Contract detention facilities: Privately owned and operated centers contracted by U.S. government agencies.
Service processing centers: ICE-owned centers with mostly contracted staff.
Intergovernmental service agreements: State and local jails and prisons with space designated for immigration detainees or small facilities owned by local governments to house detainees.
U.S. Marshals intergovernmental service agreements: The DOJ contracts with local jails and prisons to detain suspected immigration-related criminals alongside other incarcerated individuals.
Conditions vary within these facilities but often fail to meet minimum standards of living. Lack of necessary medical services, food and/or nutritional variety, mental health services, and disability accommodations afflict the centers’ occupants.
Numerous reports of officers physically and sexually abusing detainees indicate the dangerous nature of some facilities. Accelerated hiring, lack of adequate training, lack of legal accountability, and overcrowding contribute to the risk of abuse.
Even though the U.S. government has set standards, no laws exist to hold detention centers accountable for poor conditions. For example, under federal policy, officials cannot detain pregnant women, except under extraordinary circumstances. However, independent reports show a growing number of pregnant detainees.
Example: Five months into her pregnancy in 2025, Lorena Pineda was taken from her food stand in San Fernando, California, and ultimately held in a Louisiana detention center. Pineda and her family had fled gang violence in El Salvador a few years earlier. She reported getting to know many other pregnant women while in detention, including two who miscarried while in custody. Without medical care in the facility, Lorena traveled for hours by bus for prenatal appointments. After three-and-a-half months, or most of the remainder of her pregnancy, Pineda’s family used their rent money for her plane ticket back to California. She was released from detention before giving birth and given a three-month extension before she would need to leave the country. Pineda worries about how the family will afford the flights back to El Salvador.
When: Rising immigration detention statistics
Since January 2025, immigrant detention has accelerated with even more facilities, arrests, and detentions planned. From January 2025 to January 2026, the number of people detained in immigration facilities rose from 39,238 to 70,766 and is the highest in U.S. history. The Trump administration has set a goal to detain 107,759 individuals by the end of 2026. When compared to 2022 with 22,578 immigrants held in detention facilities, these more recent numbers indicate the drastic shift in immigration enforcement in the U.S. Last year, 2025, yielded the highest number of deaths in detention since 2004.
Where: Centers across the U.S. and beyond
The U.S. houses detainees in more than 200 facilities, operating “the world’s largest immigration detention system.” Ethical and legal concerns remain for the practice of sending people to “third countries” such as El Salvador and South Sudan for detention. The U.S. is the first country to engage in this practice.
Why (now): Growing concerns
As reports of substandard conditions continue to emerge, the recent surge in funding and bed capacity amplifies the need for concern. The budget reconciliation bill, or H.R. 1, that Congress passed in 2025 allocated an additional $45 billion for immigration detention through fiscal year 2029. The additional funds represent a more than 300% increase from the FY2024 budget, with plans for mega-centers and soft-sided facilities that rarely meet the required standards for detention.
Clergy, leaders, and lawmakers have raised concerns about the financial costs of detention expansion, including the government overpaying for property. In February 2026, U.S. Catholic bishops spoke out about this cost, adding, “The thought of holding thousands of families in massive warehouses should challenge the conscience of every American. Whatever their immigration status, these are human beings created in the image and likeness of God, and this is a moral inflection point for our country.”
With the rapid increase of detention statistics, there are many concerns about sidestepping constitutionally protected due process rights to accomplish detaining more people more quickly. Nonprofits, attorneys, legislators, and individuals are sounding alarms about human rights violations surrounding current detention practices in the country. In a recent report reviewing court records, Reuters found that, since October 2025, hundreds of judges have ruled in more than 4,400 cases that immigrants are being detained illegally.
How: You can help
Take action!
If you live in one of the communities where detention centers or their expansions are proposed, contact stakeholders (e.g., city mayors, state legislators, and companies planning to sell land or buildings) to voice your concerns. This has been successful in some cities.
Advocate for federal and state legislation that underscores due process, follows rule of law, and offers care and dignity for all of God’s children. Follow and act on MWEG’s calls to action in these areas.
Participate in MWEG’s immigration advocacy courses. We offer “Immigration 101” and “The Power of Proximity” on our member platform.
Example: In January 2025, substantial rumors of plans for a “mega jail” ICE detention center in Salt Lake City, Utah, led Mayor Erin Mendenhall and other state officials to apply public pressure. Protestors gathered at a site of large warehouses owned by the Ritchie Group after being tipped off about a potential tour there by federal officials. Shortly after, the real estate company said they had no plans to sell their properties to detention center builders.
This article was written by Sherilyn Stevenson, lead researcher/writer, and Alexa Alvarado and Nori Gomez, immigration specialists for Mormon Women for Ethical Government.
