ICE Updates Detention Standards to Allow More AI Use and Keep Voluntary Work Pay at $1 per Day

Immigration and Customs Enforcement released revised detention standards on Monday that permit contractors operating its facilities to rely more heavily on artificial intelligence tools for noncritical communication with detainees. The standards also allow facilities to continue paying detainees a $1-per-day stipend for voluntary work and bar operators from paying more than that amount.

The agency said the revisions were made to reduce the burden on detention operators.

The standards apply to for-profit contractors and jails that hold ICE detainees. Under the new rules, facilities may use machine-learning-based translation or generative AI for informal interactions during intake, in housing units, and when responding to grievances. ICE stated that contractors must still provide interpretation and translation services at no cost to detainees.

A new rule bars facility operators from refusing to admit any detainee ICE sends them. Facilities must request that ICE transfer any detainee they cannot serve, though transfers may take several days. New language states that detainees in voluntary work programs are not employees and are not entitled to wages or benefits.

The standards also prohibit facilities from paying above the $1-per-day minimum stipend that has long been in place. S. Marshals Service for holding pretrial federal inmates in jails.

ICE said it considered input from operators along with operational, legal, and policy requirements. Roughly 60,000 people are currently detained by ICE. The agency received more than half of the $70 billion immigration enforcement spending bill signed by President Donald Trump last week.