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March 10, 2022
The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas
Secretary of Homeland Security
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
3801 Nebraska Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20016

Mr. Tae D. Johnson
Acting Director
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
500 12th Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20536

Dear Secretary Mayorkas and Acting Director Johnson:
We greatly appreciate your work to undertake a more humane approach to immigration
enforcement, including the critical move to end contracts with the Bristol County Sheriff’s
Office and the Irwin County Detention Center. Earlier this year, we also applauded President
Biden’s Executive Order instructing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to phase out its use of
private prisons.1 We now write to express our concern over what appears to be an expansion of
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention and respectfully request that you
suspend any negotiations for new or expanded detention space with private prison contractors or
county jails. We also ask that you clarify the Administration’s civil detention policies, which we
hope will reflect a commitment to ending the mass incarceration of immigrants.
Following the White House Executive Order ending privately operated prisons, Members
of Congress called for the President to expand the order to include ICE detention.2
Unfortunately, it appears that ICE is moving in the opposite direction. On September 29, 2021,
ICE signed a contract to detain up to 1,875 immigrants at the GEO Group-operated Moshannon
Valley Correctional Center, a former Bureau of Prisons jail in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania.3 ICE is
also expanding the Pennsylvania Berks County ICE detention center for use as an adult facility
for women. Similarly, we are concerned that the private prison company CoreCivic may also be
looking to ICE to take over an expiring U.S. Marshals Services contract with the West Tennessee

1

Executive Order on Reforming Our Incarceration System to Eliminate the Use of Privately Operated Criminal
Detention Facilities (Jan. 26, 2021) https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidentialactions/2021/01/26/executive-order-reforming-our-incarceration-system-to-eliminate-the-use-of-privately-operatedcriminal-detention-facilities.
2
See letter from Members of Congress to Acting DHS Secretary David Pekoske, calling on the Biden
Administration to end private immigration detention (Jan. 28 2021)
https://connolly.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4184.
3
The new ICE contract replaces the prison’s BOP contract, which ended in March 2021 as a result of the
aforementioned January Executive Order.

Detention Facility.4 These facilities all have a long-documented history of substandard
conditions and abuse.5
These actions are being taken, at taxpayer expense, without justification for the resulting
increase. In its January 2021 report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) documented
wasteful spending resulting from the significant jump in the number of beds ICE agreed to in
detention contracts signed during the Trump Administration. More recently, the DHS Office of
Inspector General (OIG) released a report in September 2021 on violations of ICE detention
standards in the Otay Mesa facility, recommending that ICE review its contracting options to
better identify housing requirements and determine if guaranteed minimums were necessary.6
Notably, ICE refused to concur with that recommendation. It is imperative that ICE review the
number of beds ICE agreed to in detention contracts and provide clear justification to Congress
before detention capacity is expanded further.
We are also concerned that ICE has extended existing contracts and entered into new
ones in an effort to get ahead of changes in state and local law. For example, in 2019, the State
of California passed AB32 which prohibits the operation of for-profit prisons and civil detention
facilities in the State. In January 2020, just days before that law took effect, ICE hastily entered
into new long term contracts in California with GEO Group.7 Further, in January 2021, after
Washington State lawmakers introduced a bill to end private ICE detention, ICE modified its
contract with GEO Group to extend the agreement for the 1,575-bed Northwest ICE Processing
Center.8 Similarly, in August 2021, CoreCivic modified its 285-bed guaranteed minimum
contract with ICE to extend its agreement to hold people in ICE detention in Elizabeth, New
Jersey, after the New Jersey state legislature passed a bill to phase out immigration detention in
the State.9 ICE must not be permitted to bypass state and local authority in this manner.

4

See Carrie Johnson, Biden Ended Contracts with Private Prisons. So One May Turn To House Immigrants, NPR,
(Sep. 15, 2021) https://www.npr.org/2021/09/13/1036576308/biden-ended-contracts-with-private-prisons-so-onemay-turn-to-house-immigrants. See also, CoreCivic Provides Update on U.S. Marshals Service Contract for the
West Tennessee Detention Facility, (Sep. 17, 2021) https://finance.yahoo.com/news/corecivic-provides-u-marshalscontract-120000933.html.
5
Dep’t of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Monitoring of Contract
Prisons (Aug. 2016) https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2016/e1606.pdf.
6
See Dep’t of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General, “Violations of ICE Detention Standards at Otay
Mesa Detention Center,” OIG-21-61, September 24, 2021, https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/202109/OIG-21-61-Sep21.pdf.
7
Rebecca Plevin, Adelanto Moves to Revisit Ending Contract for Troubled Immigration Detention Facility, PALM
SPRINGS DESERT SUN (April 11, 2019),
https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/politics/immigration/2019/04/11/adelanto-wants-revisit-decision-endingimmigrant-detention-facility-contract/3437933002/.
8
GEO Group sues to keep Tacoma immigrant detention center open, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (May 18, 2021)
https://www.knkx.org/news/2021-05-18/geo-group-sues-to-keep-tacoma-immigrant-detention-center-open.
9
Rodrigo Torrejon, N.J. jail renews deal with ICE while bill banning new contracts sits on Murphy’s desk, NJ
ADVANCE MEDIA (Aug. 14, 2021) https://www.nj.com/essex/2021/08/nj-jail-renews-deal-with-ice-while-billbanning-new-contracts-sits-on-murphys-desk.html.

In light of these concerns, we urge you to consider the following recommendations:
•

•

•

Suspend the expansion of ICE detention: Issue a directive to pause any negotiations
between ICE and private companies or local governments to enter into new agreements
or extend existing detention contracts;
Shift away from private, for-profit ICE detention: Consistent with the January 2021
Executive Order, implement policies to phase out immigration detention contracts with
private prison companies and local governments;
Review all ICE detention facilities and policies: Conduct a thorough review of all
detention facilities and policies with the goal of phasing out the systematic mass
detention of immigrants. The review should include input from community groups, legal
service providers, people impacted by detention, and other relevant stakeholders.
In addition, we request that you provide the information below no later than April 10,

2022.
•

•

•

Pending contracts: Any solicitation or procurement proposals, including Requests for
Information (RFIs) or Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for new or modified ICE detention
agreements;
DHS review process: An update on the already announced DHS detention review,
including reports on the facilities reviewed, timelines and guidelines for the review
process, standards for grading facilities, criteria for stakeholder and public engagement,
records and testimonies considered in the review process, plans for future closures, and;
New and extended contracts: Any copies of extended or new ICE detention contracts,
including all modifications, work orders, addenda, or negotiations with private contracts
and local governments.10

In May 2021, you testified before Congress and expressed your concern about the
excessive use of immigration detention.11 Studies consistently show that most people are best
equipped to successfully complete their removal proceedings when they have full access to the
support of their families and communities and legal representation. As you review the detention
system, we ask that you halt the expansion of ICE detention and urge you to embrace
community-based alternatives to detention.

10

Congress has directed ICE to publish compiled contract documents for every detention facility, including the most
current modifications and solicitations requests. The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee has
also directed ICE to update this compilation on a monthly basis. See Report to Accompany the Department of
Homeland Security Appropriations Bill, FY 2021, H.R. 116-458, p 38.
https://www.congress.gov/116/crpt/hrpt458/CRPT-116hrpt458.pdf.
11
Rebecca Beitsch, Biden Official Defends Trump-Era Immigration Policy, THE HILL (May 26, 2021),
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/555551-mayorkas-defends-trump-era-covid-policyimmigrationenforcement.

Sincerely,

PRAMILA JAYAPAL
Member of Congress

RAÚL M. GRIJALVA
Member of Congress

ALMA S. ADAMS, PH.D.
NANETTE DIAZ BARRAGÁN
KAREN BASS
DONALD S. BEYER JR.
EARL BLUMENAUER
SUZANNE BONAMICI
JAMAAL BOWMAN, ED.D.
ANTHONY G. BROWN
JULIA BROWNLEY
CORI BUSH
TONY CÁRDENAS
ANDRÉ CARSON
JOAQUIN CASTRO
SHEILA CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK
JUDY CHU
DAVID N. CICILLINE
KATHERINE CLARK
YVETTE D. CLARKE
EMANUEL CLEAVER, II
STEVE COHEN
GERALD E. CONNOLLY
JIM COOPER
J. LUIS CORREA
DANNY K. DAVIS
MADELEINE DEAN
DIANA DEGETTE
SUZAN DELBENE
MARK DESAULNIER
DEBBIE DINGELL
LLOYD DOGGETT
VERONICA ESCOBAR
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT

JASON CROW
Member of Congress

DWIGHT EVANS
JOHN GARAMENDI
JESÚS G. "CHUY" GARCÍA
SYLVIA R. GARCIA
JIMMY GOMEZ
JAHANA HAYES
STEVEN HORSFORD
JARED HUFFMAN
SHEILA JACKSON LEE
SARA JACOBS
HAKEEM JEFFRIES
HENRY C. “HANK” JOHNSON, JR.
MONDAIRE JONES
KAIALI‘I KAHELE
ROBIN L. KELLY
RO KHANNA
DEREK KILMER
ANN KIRKPATRICK
RICK LARSEN
BRENDA L. LAWRENCE
BARBARA LEE
ANDY LEVIN
TED W. LIEU
ZOE LOFGREN
ALAN LOWENTHAL
CAROLYN B. MALONEY
DORIS MATSUI
BETTY MCCOLLUM
JAMES P. MCGOVERN
JERRY MCNERNEY
GREGORY W. MEEKS
GRACE MENG

GWEN MOORE
JERROLD NADLER
GRACE F. NAPOLITANO
JOE NEGUSE
MARIE NEWMAN
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ
ILHAN OMAR
FRANK PALLONE JR.
DONALD M. PAYNE, JR.
MARK POCAN
KATIE PORTER
AYANNA PRESSLEY
DAVID PRICE
MIKE QUIGLEY
JAMIE RASKIN
RAUL RUIZ, M.D.
BOBBY L. RUSH
LINDA T. SÁNCHEZ
MARY GAY SCANLON
JAN SCHAKOWSKY

ROBERT C. “BOBBY” SCOTT
TERRI A. SEWELL
ELISSA SLOTKIN
ADAM SMITH
MELANIE STANSBURY
MARILYN STRICKLAND
MARK TAKANO
DINA TITUS
RASHIDA TLAIB
PAUL D. TONKO
NORMA J. TORRES
RITCHIE TORRES
LORI TRAHAN
JUAN VARGAS
NYDIA M. VELÁZQUEZ
BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN
PETER WELCH
NIKEMA WILLIAMS
FREDERICA S. WILSON
JOHN YARMUTH