Washington, March 17 (RHC)-- U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is leading congressional demands that the Biden administration end contracts between Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, and local jails and prisons, calling the practice an extension of mass incarceration. 

In a letter signed by 24 members of Congress to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and White House Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice, Congressmember Omar highlights a Biden “racial justice” executive order, signed days after he took office, which directed the Justice Department to end its use of private prisons — impacting about 9% of the prison population. 

At the time, Biden made no mention of ending contacts with privately run immigrant prisons that jail the majority of people for ICE.