Immigration Detention: ICE Should Enhance Its Use of Facility Oversight Data and Management of Detainee Complaints
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is the lead agency responsible for providing safe, secure, and humane confinement in immigration detention facilities.
ICE and other DHS agencies oversee compliance with facility standards and receive complaints from detainees. We examined this oversight and what ICE does with oversight inspection data and information from complaints.
ICE doesn't comprehensively analyze inspection or complaint information to identify trends. It also doesn't have reasonable assurance that all complaints are addressed.
Our 6 recommendations to ICE are on conducting regular analysis, recording resolutions of complaints, and more.
Detainees at some ICE facilities can use a grievance box to lodge complaints.
What GAO Found
The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other DHS entities use, in part, inspections to oversee detention facilities and address identified deficiencies. As shown below, in fiscal year 2019, most of ICE's 179 facilities that housed adults for over 72 hours underwent inspections by contractors or its Office of Detention Oversight, while smaller facilities conducted self-assessments. ICE also conducted onsite monitoring at facilities. Further, two DHS offices conducted inspections related to certain aspects of facilities. ICE collects the results of its various inspections, such as deficiencies they identify, but does not comprehensively analyze them to identify trends or record all inspection results in a format conducive to such analyses. By ensuring inspection results are recorded in a format conducive to analysis and regularly conducting comprehensive analyses of results, ICE would be better positioned to identify and address potential trends in deficiencies.
Detention Facility Oversight by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Entities at 179 Facilities, Fiscal Year 2019
ICE and DHS entities have various mechanisms for receiving and addressing detention-related complaints from detainees and others. However, while some of these entities conduct some analyses of the complaint data they maintain, ICE does not regularly analyze detention-related complaint data across all of its relevant offices. By regularly conducting such analyses, ICE could identify and address potential trends in complaints. Additionally, ICE does not have reasonable assurance that Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) field offices—which oversee and manage detention facilities—address and record outcomes of detention-related complaints referred to them for resolution, or do so in a timely manner. For example, GAO's analysis of data from one referring office—the Administrative Inquiry Unit—indicated that for certain noncriminal complaints the unit refers, ERO field offices did not provide resolutions back to the unit for 99 percent of referrals. Without requiring that ERO field offices record any actions taken on, and the resolutions of, detention-related complaints, ICE does not have reasonable assurance that field offices are addressing them.
Why GAO Did This Study
ICE is the lead agency responsible for providing safe, secure, and humane confinement for detained foreign nationals in the United States. ICE has established standards for immigration detention related to complaint processes, medical care, and other areas.
The joint explanatory statement accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019, includes a provision for GAO to review ICE's management and oversight of detention facilities and detention-related complaints. This report examines ICE and other DHS entities' mechanisms for (1) overseeing compliance with immigration detention facility standards and how ICE uses oversight information to address any identified deficiencies; and (2) receiving and addressing detainee complaints, and how ICE uses complaint information. GAO analyzed documentation and data on inspections and complaints at facilities that held detainees for over 72 hours during the last 3 fiscal years—2017 through 2019; visited 10 facilities selected based on inspection results and other factors; and interviewed officials.
Recommendations
GAO is making six recommendations, including that ICE ensures oversight data are recorded in a format conducive to analysis, regularly conducts trend analyses of oversight data and detention-related complaint data, and requires that ERO field offices record the resolutions of detention-related complaints. DHS concurred.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement | The Director of ICE should direct Custody Management to regularly conduct analyses of contracted facility inspections oversight data over time, within and across facilities and regions, and in a manner to enable trends in inspection deficiencies to be identified and addressed. (Recommendation 1) |
DHS concurred with this recommendation. ICE reported that, as of June 2022, ICE management was reviewing a proposed monthly trend analysis report Custody Management had developed in response to this recommendation. As of April 2023, ICE officials reported that the agency had shifted its approach and plans to finish implementing a new data system before it begins to conduct regular analyses of contracted facility inspections oversight data. The new data system will provide enhanced analytical capabilities. ICE officials anticipate that they will be able to start analyzing data using the new system as early as winter 2024. To meet the intent of our recommendation, these analyses should examine oversight data over time, within and across facilities and regions, in order to identify trends and develop recommendations for resolving repeated deficiencies.
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| United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement | The Director of ICE should direct the Office of Detention Oversight and Custody Management to take steps to ensure that data on deficiencies identified through Office of Detention Oversight's inspections are recorded in a format that is accessible to Custody Management for analysis purposes. (Recommendation 2) |
DHS concurred with this recommendation and noted in June 2021 that Custody Management had access to a spreadsheet maintained by the Office of Detention Oversight (ODO) with data on deficiencies identified through ODO inspections. According to DHS, access to this spreadsheet allowed Custody Management to perform analyses such as the detention standards in which deficiencies commonly occur as well identify facilities experiencing non-compliance to ICE requirements. However, the spreadsheet did not include information on the specific components of the standards found deficient, which prevented Custody Management from determining whether deficiencies occur in the same standards across time in the same facility, or across facilities. In June 2022, ICE stated that Custody Management and ODO were working together to identify the additional data fields Custody Management needs to conduct trend analysis. In April 2023, ICE reported that Custody Management and ODO had developed a method to upload ODO inspections results data into a new data system that Custody Management is in the process of implementing. ICE anticipates that Custody Management will be able to start uploading ODO inspection results data into the system in July 2023. To meet the intent of the recommendation and allow Custody Management to conduct analyses within and across facilities and regions, the ODO inspections data that Custody Management uploads into the new system should include data that specifies which components of standards are deficient.
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| United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement | The Director of ICE should regularly conduct analyses of data on deficiencies identified through Office of Detention Oversight's inspections. (Recommendation 3) |
DHS concurred with this recommendation. As of June 2022, ICE stated that Custody Management was working with the Office of Detention Oversight (ODO) to obtain data it would need to analyze trends in deficiencies. In April 2023, ICE reported that Custody Management plans to start regularly analyzing ODO inspections results data once it finishes implementing a new data system. ICE anticipates Custody Management can begin conducting these analyses as early as winter 2024. To meet the intent of the recommendation, once Custody Management uploads ODO inspections results data in its new system, it should regularly analyze the data to identify trends in deficiencies over time and within and across facilities and regions.
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| United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement | The Director of ICE should ensure that all Operational Review Self-Assessment results and corrective actions are recorded in a format that is conducive to tracking and analysis. (Recommendation 4) |
DHS concurred with this recommendation and in June 2021 reported that ICE's Custody Management is working to automate entry of Operational Review Self-Assessment data into the Facility Performance Management System. As of May 2022, ICE reported that Custody Management had developed coded documents necessary for the automation for field offices to complete during their self-assessments. As of April 2023, ICE reported that the agency was in the process of implementing a new data system in which it will maintain data on Operational Review Self-Assessment results and corrective actions. ICE noted that the new system is intended to provide enhanced analysis capabilities. ICE anticipates that it will be able to begin uploading self-assessment results data into the new system in July 2023. If these efforts result in data that are conducive to tracking and analysis, they will meet the intent of our recommendation.
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| United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement | The Director of ICE should regularly conduct analyses of detention-related complaint data from relevant offices, including analyses of data over time, within and across facilities and regions, and at a level necessary to identify and address potentially reoccurring complaints. (Recommendation 5) |
DHS concurred with this recommendation and noted that ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) was planning to establish a working group to review existing processes for analyzing detention-related complaints and identify areas of improvements to better track and analyze ICE detention complaint data from multiple programs. As of June 2021 and June 2022, ERO reported that it was continuing to develop the charter for the working group. As of May 2023, ERO reported that the agency was in the process of integrating several data systems that store detention related-information into a new system. The new system is to include information on complaints made to the Detention Reporting and Information Line and to provide enhanced analysis capabilities, including the ability to produce reports with analysis of detention-related complaint data. To meet the intent of this recommendation, ICE should ensure that the reports it regularly produces, from the new system or otherwise, include analysis of detention-related complaint data that both ICE and other DHS offices collect. Additionally, the analyses should examine the data over time, within and across facilities and regions, and at a level necessary to identify and address reoccurring complaints.
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| United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement | The Director of ICE should require that ERO field offices record any actions taken on, and the resolutions of, detention-related complaints referred to them from the Detention Reporting and Information Line and Administrative Inquiry Unit in a timely manner. (Recommendation 6) |
DHS concurred with this recommendation and awarded a contract in September 2021 to integrate multiple data systems, including the Detention Reporting and Information Line's (DRIL) data system. Work planned under this contract will enable Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) field office officials to enter any actions taken on, or resolutions of, detention-related complaints from DRIL directly into DRIL's database. ICE officials said that the contractor will implement the data system in three phases. In April 2023, ICE officials reported that the agency plans to implement the first phase of the data system by June 2023, and to fully implement the system in March 2024. The officials noted that the system will store data on complaints referred to ERO field offices by DRIL and the Administrative Inquiry Unit. They also noted that ICE plans to notify ERO field offices that they are required to record any actions they take on, and the resolutions of, complaints referred to them from DRIL and the Administrative Inquiry Unit in the system once those system capabilities are in place. ICE officials also noted that the system will enable headquarters officials to monitor whether ERO field offices are recording the required information. These planned actions, if fully implemented, should address the intent of our recommendation.
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