The administration has continued a policy begun under President George W. Bush in which asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants are detained until their court dates. Arrests and deportations have risen steadily since Obama took office.

Cora Currier, ProPublica

Submitted by David Culver

The government recently unveiled a new set of rules [1] outlining better care for immigrants and asylum seekers detained while waiting for their deportation hearings.

The guidelines, issued by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement service (ICE), have been assailed by congressional Republicans, who say they amount to coddling illegal immigrants.

The controversy heated up last week in a hearing called “Holiday on ICE,” held by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, who has referred to the new rules as “a hospitality guideline for illegal immigrants.” He pointed in particular to a new federal facility in Texas [3] that the administration has held up as an example of a less penal approach to non-criminal immigration detainees. The guards there don’t wear uniforms, and the facility has, as Smith pointed out, a soccer field, volleyball court and cable TV [3]. The $32 million center was built by a private contractor [4], and ICE claims it will cost less per day to house detainees there than in other facilities.

More…