Why Immigration Detention Is Necessary
By CIS on January 24, 2019
Definition
Detention of aliens who are in violation of immigration laws is authorized — and in some cases mandated —by various provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA", the primary statutory foundation of federal law, codified within Title 8 of the U.S. Code). Because immigration detention is civil, unlike criminal detention after conviction, its purpose is not to punish. Rather, immigration detention is solely for the purpose of holding in confinement aliens charged with violating the immigration laws while their removal proceedings are pending and, if ordered removed, up to and including the act of repatriation to the country of 1) origin, 2) last habitual residence, or 3) from which the alien last departed prior to entering the United States.
Main Points
https://cis.org/Fact-Sheet/Why-Immigration-Detention-Necessary
