U.S. overhaul seeks civil migrant detention system

U.S. Border Patrol agents watch over undocumented immigrants in a detention center in Nogales, Arizona, May 31, 2006.

TUSCON, Ariz (Reuters) - The U.S. government said on Thursday it would create a new detention system for immigrants facing deportation, taking control of facilities criticized for their treatment of detainees.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, said it was creating an Office of Detention Policy and Planning to design a new civil detention system for the growing number of immigrant detainees.

About 32,000 immigrants are held at any given time in around 350 local jails and private prisons, which have been criticized for providing poor medical care and oversight.

"My goal within the next three to five years, we will detain people within our custody in facilities ... located and operated specifically for immigration purposes," ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton said.

ICE said the new office would re-evaluate the entire detention system, with key areas of focus including healthcare management and alternatives to detention.

Immigration reform has been a contentious issue in U.S. politics. Congress has failed to pass reforms amid differences over how to deal with about 12 million illegal immigrants in the country and demands border security first be addressed.

The ICE overhaul would include reviewing U.S. government contracts with local jails and private prisons and the appointment of federal detention managers to monitor and "ensure appropriate conditions" in 23 facilities that together house more than 40 percent of detainees.

"ICE have the responsibility to enforce our nation's immigration and customs laws, but we also have a responsibility to ensure the safety, security and wellbeing of the individuals in our custody, and I am committed to both of these tremendous responsibilities," Morton told a conference call.

While ICE continues to undertake the review, Morton said it would stop sending families to the T. Don Hutto Residential Center, a former state prison in Austin, Texas, that was the target of an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit and had been criticized for placing children behind razor wire.

"In place of housing families, we will propose that the Texas facility will be used solely as a female detention center," Morton said.

DEMOCRATS WELCOME CHANGES

President Barack Obama is currently seeking support among Democratic and Republican lawmakers to overhaul the broken immigration system in the United States.

He supports offering illegal immigrants in good standing the chance to pay a fine and become citizens, at the same time cracking down on employers hiring undocumented workers and hardening security on the porous Mexico border.

The move to overhaul the immigration detention system -- in which more than 90 detainees have died since 2004 -- was welcomed by Democrats in the U.S. Congress, where they are a majority.

"The Obama administration is taking a step forward to improve what have been shameful -- and all too often fatal -- conditions of custody in immigration detention," Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, said in a statement.

Leahy added that any new facilities that ICE proposes to build should be located in areas in which detainees can access legal counsel and pro bono representation.

Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, a California Democrat, welcomed the appointment of federal directors and the creation of advisory boards to propose changes to detention policy.

"These ... changes will help to ensure that our immigration authorities no longer disregard the basic rights of the men, women and children in their custody," said Roybal-Allard.

They "are the starting point -- not the finish line -- for detention reform," she added.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)