Analysis

On January 26th President Joe Biden signed an executive order to begin phasing out the use of privately operated prisons by the Department of Justice (DOJ), a move that the Obama administration announced near the end of its term but was never realized. While this is a welcome first step, the executive order does not address the use of private detention by the Department of Homeland Security. Extending the order to include DHS should be the next step, but ending the use of private detention alone is not enough. Immigration detention is cruel and unnecessary no matter who owns or operates it.