Democrats win significant oversight of immigration detention facilities

Democrats are bringing enhanced oversight to the Department of Homeland Security to more closely monitor how immigrants are treated in federal custody on the border and in detention facilities across the country.

The defense spending bill, which includes money for the DHS to operate for the rest of fiscal 2020, mandates the department create an independent Immigration Detention Ombudsman office to track concerns related to immigrants who are being held by Customs and Border Protection or by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. CBP is supposed to hold people, primarily those arrested for illegally crossing the border, no more than three days, while ICE may detain families and adults for weeks to months.