November 2, 2006

ICE OFFICE OF DETENTION AND REMOVAL

The Office of Detention and Removal (DRO) is a division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the largest investigative agency in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DRO is one of ICE's four integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilit ies for a number of key homeland security priorities.

DRO is responsible for promoting public safety and national security by ensuring the departure of all removable aliens from the United States through the fair enforcement of the nation's immigration laws. DRO employs its resources and expertise to locate and arrest fugitive aliens; to detain certain aliens while their cases are being processed; and to remove them from the United States when so ordered. DRO strives to ensure the integrity of U.S. immigration law by swiftly apprehending and removing offenders. DRO includes 6,700 authorized employees, including nearly 5,300 law enforcement officers and 1,400 support personnel.

DRO accomplishes its mission through a number of key programs:

• The National Fugitive Operations Program (NFOP) identifies, locates, apprehends and removes fugitive aliens from the United States . The highest priority of the NFOP is placed on those fugitives who pose a threat to national security and community safety. Fugitive operations teams participate in various federal, state and local task forces and work closely with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and other agencies to identify and apprehend fugitives.
  
  
• The Fugitive Operations Support Center (FOSC) created in June 2006, enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of the National Fugitive Operations Program (NFOP) through the use of technology and partnerships with law enforcement agencies. The Fugitive Operations Support Center reviews and updates absconder cases; develops leads for and assists fugitive operations teams; develops national fugitive field operations and manages the absconder numbers.
  
  
• The Criminal Alien Program (CAP) focuses on identifying criminal aliens who are incarcerated within federal, state and local facilities, thereby ensuring that they are not released into the community by securing a final order of removal prior to the termination of their sentence. In June 2006, ICE launched a central interview and processing site for criminal aliens within the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) called the Detention Enforcement and Processing Offenders by Remote Technology (DEPORT). Since June, DEPORT has processed more than 4,337 inmates in federal prisons eligible for removal and who previously may have slipped through the immigration process. Through DEPORT, ICE ensures that all criminal aliens in federal prison custody are processed for removal. Currently ICE has increased the presence of the CAP program from 30 to 119 federal prisons.
  
  
• The Detention Standards Compliance Unit ensures facilities utilized by ICE to detain aliens in immigration proceedings do so in accordance with ICE National Detention Standards. The DSC provides ICE and the public the assurance that detainees in ICE custody, the vast majority of which are criminal aliens, are detained in safe and secure environments and under appropriate conditions of confinement. To protect the well being of its detainees at all times, ICE has begun supplementing its review of detention facilities by creating a new unit to provide oversight of these facilities within ICE Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). This new unit will provide enhanced oversight of DRO facilities to ensure that detention standards are met. The unit will also facilitate examinations being conducted by members of the DHS Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
  
  
• The Alternatives to Detention Program develops and implements programs to enhance the supervision of aliens released from ICE custody. There are two program currently used by ICE,  the Enhanced Supervision/Reporting (ESR) Program and the Intense Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP). These programs closely supervise illegal aliens that can be released into the community to ensure their attendance at Immigration Court hearings and compliance with court orders.
  
  
KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN FISCAL YEAR 2006


• Ended “Catch and Release” Along the Borders: The practice of “catch and release” for non-Mexican aliens existed for years and was one of the greatest impediments to border control. DHS and ICE re-engineered the detention and removal process to end this practice along the border, an accomplishment considered impossible in FY05 when only 34 percent of non-Mexican aliens apprehended along the border were being detained. In May, ICE opened a new 500-bed facility in Williamson County , Texas that is specially equipped to meet family needs. In August 2006, only 28 family units were released, compared with 820 in the month before the facility opened; a 97 percent decline in family releases on the southern border.
  
  
• Set New Record for Alien Removals: ICE removed 187,513 illegal aliens from the country in FY06, a record for the agency and a ten percent increase over the number of removals during the prior fiscal year. ICE removed 50,222 aliens from the United States via Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System (JPATS) flights to foreign countries. ICE also increased its detention bed space by 6,300 during the FY06, bringing the current number of funded beds to 27,500 immigration detainees.
  
  
• Nearly Tripled the Number of Fugitive Operations Teams: ICE nearly tripled the number of fugitive operations teams deployed nationwide from 18 to 50. These additional teams maximized the efficiency of ICE immigration enforcement efforts to locate, apprehend and remove primarily criminal aliens. Through “Operation Return to Sender,” ICE arrested, closed the cases of, or otherwise removed 14,356 aliens from the fugitive/illegal population between May 26 and September 30, 2006. To date, 5,975 of the 14,356 aliens have been removed from the United States.
  
  
• Created a National Center to Coordinate Deportation of Aliens Upon Release from Prison : ICE created a national center that reviews aliens at all 119 federal detention facilities (as opposed to only 30 federal facilities in 2005), to ensure that criminal aliens are deported rather than released into society upon the completion of their sentences.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

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