 PROGRAM OFFERS ALTERNATIVE TO INS DETENTION
With the number of people in INS detention at an all time high, there are more efforts than ever to find alternatives. One alternative that appears to be working is a program run by Catholic Charities out of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The program, which is two years old, helps detainees find lodging in places other than detention centers and local jails, where most detainees are housed. So far, more than 50 people have been released through the program, which also helps the people find employment.
The program accepts both detained asylum seekers and people under deportation orders because of criminal convictions whose home countries will not accept them. The program director hopes that its success will help convince the INS that asylum seekers would are not detained will appear for their hearings, and that the danger in releasing so-called “criminal aliens” has been exaggerated. All 31 of the asylum seekers in the program have appeared for their hearings, and of the 21 people in the program who were convicted of crimes, only two were incarcerated again.
The INS Director in New Orleans, who says that the agency plans to increase the number of people it is sending, has praised the New Orleans program. The program has also received steadily increasing numbers of calls from organization across the country on how they can develop a similar program in their own area.
Along with providing for more humane treatment of detainees, the program also saves the government money. The cost of keeping someone in detention is about a day, while the program costs only a day. Last year, the government spent more than million to house INS detainees.
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