5. Department of Homeland Security · Notable
Eliminate Alternatives to Detention for border crossers
Printed page 151 5. Department of Homeland Security
“Eliminate the use of ATD for border crossers except in rare cases and only with the explicit authority of the Secretary.”
What has happened
- Not started
Moved the other way, or at least not moved: no directive eliminating Alternatives to Detention for border crossers, and ICE's own published statistics still carry a dedicated "ATD FY26 YTD" sheet in the workbook it refreshed on 2026-07-20. The program is running and reported on as a normal line of business, with no Secretary-level authorization requirement in evidence.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
One negative search covered Chapter 5’s asks on pp. 151-158. Federal Register full-text search over the window for “Alternatives to Detention” returns zero documents of any type; the Federal Register records we keep and search carry no ICE notice or rule naming the program.
The Quote asks that ATD be eliminated for border crossers except in rare cases certified by the Secretary. The nearest thing to action is the opposite: ICE’s detention statistics workbook, which is the agency’s own record, still reports ATD enrollment for fiscal year 2026, and the ICE Detention Management page still describes ATD as a resource the agency shifts people into. Nothing in the window narrows or conditions its use.
- Action
- eliminate
- Object
- Alternatives to Detention program for border crossers
- ID
- 372