ICE's Inspections and Monitoring of Detention Facilities Do Not Lead to Sustained Compliance or Systemic Improvements

We determined that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) uses two types of inspections to examine detention facilities in more than 200 detention facilities, yet, neither the inspections nor the onsite monitoring ensure consistent compliance with detention standards, nor do they promote comprehensive deficiency corrections. Further, the ICE inspections, follow-up processes, and onsite monitoring of facilities help correct some deficiencies, however, they do not ensure adequate oversight or systemic improvements in detention conditions, with some deficiencies remaining unaddressed for years. We recommended that the detention inspection processes are revised with quality control measures to ensure the reported inspection results are thorough and accurate, as well as improving the follow-up process after identifying deficiencies. We made five recommendations to improve inspections, follow up, and monitoring of ICE detention facilities. ICE concurred with all recommendations, which remain resolved and open.