ICE Detainers Decline 39 Percent Since FY 2012 - TRAC

"There has been a dramatic drop in the number of detainers issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to the latest available data from the agency.  In the eighteen month period from the end of FY 2012 through March 2014, there has been a 39 percent decrease in the number of ICE detainers sent to local, state and federal law enforcement officials.  This 39 percent decline translates into around 9,000 fewer ICE detainers issued each month, or more than 100,000 fewer a year.  Detainers, often called "immigration holds," have been a primary tool that ICE uses in order to detain and deport individuals it is seeking.  These official ICE notices ask local, state and federal law enforcement agencies not to release suspected non-citizens held at their facilities in order to give ICE an opportunity to take them into its custody and initiate deportation steps.  Here are the numbers..." - TRAC, Nov. 12, 2014.