The Political Dynamics of Justice Reform in The U.S.

“increase in federal imprisonment rates has been driven by increases in immigrationrelated
admissions. Between 2003 and 2011, admissions to federal prisons for
immigration-related offenses increased by 83 percent.”
As Carl Takei, a staff attorney for the ACLU National Prison Project, put it, prosecutions
for illegal border-crossing “have essentially taken over the federal criminal justice
system in the Southwest.”
When asked in the hearing how a new mandatory minimum would impact Immigrations
and Customs Enforcement, ICE director Sarah Saldana replied, “We’re stretched on our
resources already. To expand it...would be a very big problem for us.”
Those sentences are mostly served at one of 13 “Criminal Alien Requirement” prisons
run by private companies, as a way to cope with overcrowding in federal
facilities. Prisoners there have reported many of the same problems Obama highlighted
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