Federal prisons holding 700 immigrants in detention, BOP says

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The federal prison system as of Wednesday was holding about 700 immigrant detainees at four facilities, a Bureau of Prisons executive told a House committee.

700 immigrants detained in prisons

In a two-hour House Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Subcommittee, Acting Deputy BOP Director Kathleen Toomey disclosed that number, saying they were being held at four of the five prisons now under contract to hold immigrants for ICE: FDC Atlanta, FCI Leavenworth in Kansas, FDC Philadelphia, FCI Miami. 

The fifth prison, FCI Berlin in New Hampshire, is under contract to hold immigrant detainees, but there isn't enough staffing, food, clothing or training at this site. 

Although FCI Dublin in the San Francisco Bay Area has not been put under contract, ICE officials visited the closed women's prison last week, scoping it out for possible use, a union official said. 

Immigrants not housed with convicted criminals

Under questioning from former TV anchor, U.S. Rep. Mark Alford (R-Missouri), who wanted to know if the immigrants are being housed with the general population of prisoners at those facilities, Toomey answered no.

She said the immigrants are being put into separate housing units at these prisons and are being supervised by BOP staff, but there are steps being taken so that the detainees do not interact with convicted criminals at any point.

"We are providing bed space for ICE so that they can fulfill their mission," she told the committee. 

U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) said that he expects that number to increase "in the thousands, maybe even more," and questioned Toomey if she had enough money in the agency to handle the influx of immigrants. 

U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-New York) then asked how much money it would cost to feed and shelter the immigrants.

 "I don't have an estimate of what it would cost. It would depend on the number of individuals," Toomey said, adding that the contract provides that ICE will reimburse the BOP. 

And as for whether the prisons have staff who speak anything other than English, Toomey told Meng that she didn't have an answer to that, but told Meng that the agreement with ICE provides for "language line assistance." 

BOP is financially strapped

Toomey spent much of the rest of the hearing explaining to the congressional leaders how financially strapped the BOP is, including the fact that there are more than 4,000 vacant positions and that there is a $3 billion modernization backlog to upgrade the aging prison infrastructure.

"They're literally crumbling," Toomey said of the buildings. As an example, she said that there are currently 4,000 beds for the 153,000 prisoners that are currently unusable because they are under leaking roofs, citing mold and asbestos as other reasons that make putting people in them unsafe. She said that number is the equivalent of "two to three prisons" of unused space. 

Specifics about immigrants not provided

No other details about the immigrants were released, including what countries they came from or what crimes they had committed, other than entering the country illegally. 

In an email, BOP confirmed the agency "will continue to support our law enforcement partners to fulfill the administration's policy objectives," but would not offer any more specifics, citing privacy and security reasons, referring all other questions to ICE. 

ICE did not respond for comment on Thursday.

In terms of deportations, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse based at Syracuse University noted that President Donald Trump deported 37,660 people during his first month in office, compared to the monthly average of 57,000 removals and returns in the last full year of Joe Biden's administration.

BOP whistleblower against housing immigrants in prisons

Toomey's hearing came shortly after a group of U.S. senators and Congress members expressed their concern over turning federal prisons into immigration detention centers.

And on Thursday, two California Democratic senators, Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to convene an "urgent hearing" on the Trump administration's decision to have the BOP hold ICE detainees. 

The senators cited an anonymous BOP employee, who wrote a letter, saying that it is unconstitutional to hold immigrants in prisons.

"BOP facilities are not immigration detention facilities," the whisteblower wrote in the letter sent to Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). "Our employees have not been trained to house detainees of this nature. We are equipped to handle individuals who have had due process and are coming to pay their debt to society. The needs and situations of immigrant detainees are very different, and this is not in line with our employment contracts." 

The letter continued: "To put it plainly, this is inhumane. It seems like both fear of Donald Trump and the need for revenue are driving these decisions. But the bottom line is that BOP employees did not sign up for this. We have not been trained for this. We are not being paid for this. And it is not in our contracts. This abuse of resources and of my colleagues seems to be for nothing more than political gain." 

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