The Math of Immigration Detention, 2018 Update: Costs Continue to Multiply

Publication date: 
May 2018
The Math of Immigration Detention, 2018 Update: Costs Continue to Multiply

In this update to their 2013 report, The Math of immigration Detention, the National Immigration Forum shows that since the publication of that report and the collapse of bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform in 2013, the federal government’s exorbitant spending on detaining hundreds of thousands of immigrants has continued to multiply. In that time, across presidential administrations, both the number of people held in immigration detention and the cost of detaining each one have increased.

The issue brief contains updated data regarding federal spending on immigration detention and analyzes the failure of the federal government to utilize effective alternative to detention programs.