ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews immigration detention as a significant aspect of mass incarceration in the United States. Since the 1990s, the population of immigration prisons has greatly increased and thousands of migrants are in custody on any given day. Some are asylum-seekers, others are awaiting resolution of their deportation cases, and still others are subject to what is called “mandatory detention,” which means they will be detained for the entirety of their immigration proceedings—without the opportunity to seek release. Limited constitutional protections and substandard conditions of confinement are among the myriad problems in the immigration detention system.
