An infographic developed by Center for American Progress shows how much time immigrants can expect to spend in detention. On average immigrants with no serious offenses can expect to spend an average of one month in detention. However, those that are fighting deportation can be detained three times longer, in some cases even years.
With this discrepancy, it’s unclear how the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is able to meet the congressional mandate which requires them to maintain enough bed space to detain 34,000 immigrants per day. This mandate comes at at an annual cost of more than $2 billion. Immigrants often placed in these tight conditions are often at risk for abuse and mistreatment in detention.
If you have a family member in a detention, click here to read a collection of know your rights resources which explain your rights (and of your family) when placed in a detention center.