Beyond the Commons: Issue 3

relationship is not coincidental at all - its significance is great and only increases when the numbers are narrowed solely to economic migrants. Often working low-wage jobs in the agricultural field, migrant workers contribute heavily to the economy, providing us affordable produce while only making close to $10,000 annually. The positive impact they have on the employment sector of the economy is one reason for us to seek out more immigrants in our country, providing them a system where they can become legal residents and receive protection from underpayment and other forms of exploitation.

Despite the positive impact of immigration on the job sector of the economy, there is one aspect where they are certainly costing Americans far more than we should like. This, however, is not their faults at all. Under the current system, and more specifically under this administration, immigration detention has been the preferred method of settling disputes of legality. American nativists and its hate-fueling leadership have developed a harsh and low tolerance policy that celebrates the detention of immigrants, going as far as separating children from their parents in centers. Although this is seen as a victory by the administration and by many civilians supporting it, it does not come for free. Detention centers have been estimated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to cost around $126.46 per bed per night. The allotted number of beds is 29,953, and that is simply for adult detention centers. In family detention centers, the nightly bed rate is $161.36 for its 960 beds. The National Immigration Forum has found that even these estimations from ICE should be considered low as they do not account for the payrolls and other operational expenses for ICE. These figures then calculate that the U.S. government was set to spend $3.076 billion on detention centers in the 2018 fiscal year. This cost naturally falls upon taxpayers’ shoulders and such a large amount is detracted from funds that could be used to improve other social issues within the country. Detention centers are not directly to be blamed on however, they are a mere reflection of our incomprehensive and thus unnecessarily expensive system.

There are other alternatives to detention that have proven themselves to have a 95% success rate, while only costing a maximum of $17 a day per immigrant. Even from a pragmatic standpoint, detention centers are the opposite of beneficial to the system. By sticking to our so-called values and not looking