WASHINGTON, D.C. — Immigration and Customs Enforcement released revised detention standards on Monday, which permit contractors to use artificial intelligence for detainee communication and maintain a $1-per-day pay rate for voluntary work programs. These revised standards apply to for-profit contractors and jails holding ICE detainees.

ICE stated the standards were revised with input from partners to reduce the burden on detention operators. ICE also said the changes streamline its rules and align with standards used by the U.S. Marshals Service for holding pretrial federal inmates in jails. The agency considered operator input alongside operational, legal, and policy requirements during the final decision-making process.

Michelle Brane, a former Department of Homeland Security ombudsman, said, "100 percent it's going to result in deterioration of already problematic conditions of detention." She stated, "It's consistent with their general practice, which is to eliminate accountability and oversight." Brane added, "They are not concerned with people's basic rights or safety of detainees."

The revised standard allows facilities to use artificial intelligence tools, such as machine-learning-based translation or generative AI, for noncritical communication or informal interactions with detainees. These communications could involve intake information, conversations within housing units, and responses to detainee grievances. However, Dr. Homer Venters, an expert on correctional health care, said the changes could restrict access to language assistance by eliminating mandates for in-person and telephone interpretation and translation services. Venters said grievances often include urgent information, such as when a patient is denied lifesaving care. ICE clarified that the standards ensure contractors provide interpretation and translation services to detainees at no cost.

Under the new standards, facility operators are barred from refusing to admit any detainee ICE sends them. A related rule change requires facilities to request that ICE transfer detainees they cannot serve elsewhere. The revised standards also specify that detainees participating in voluntary work programs are not employees and are not entitled to wages and benefits. Dora Schriro, former director of ICE's Office of Detention Policy and Planning, said the new language clarifying detainee worker status benefits ICE's for-profit contractors.