Detention Rule Is Lifted

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is no longer asking local jurisdictions to detain undocumented prisoners for up to 48 hours after their scheduled release, according to an announcement last week from State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman.

The policy became increasingly unpopular with police over the past few years. ICE rarely picked up the prisoners, while local and state law enforcement departments had to pay the costs of detention and take on the liability involved. The Suffolk County sheriff’s department stopped honoring ICE detainee requests in September.

ICE is now asking that local jurisdictions, on a voluntary basis, notify the agency when someone being considered for deportation is about to be released. The policy change was announced last month as part of President Obama’s executive overhaul of the nation’s immigration policies.

The exception to the new approach is when ICE identifies an individual who is the “subject of a final order of removal” or when there is “probable cause to find that the person is a removable alien,” in particular someone suspected of involvement in violent criminal or gang-related behavior.

The Department of Homeland Security, the umbrella under which all immigration agencies serve, is retraining personnel and will officially implement the new program as of Jan. 5.