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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has quietly rewritten the rules governing its vast immigration detention system, stripping out long-standing pay language for detainees, narrowing legal constraints on private operators, and tightening federal control over who facilities must hold.
The changes are contained in ICE's revised National Detention Standards for 2026. The agency faces ongoing legal challenges over detention labor practices and expands enforcement under the Trump administration's immigration agenda. Among the most consequential revisions is the removal of language that previously required detainees participating in work programs to receive at least $1 per day.
"Detainee volunteers participating in the voluntary work program are not considered facility and/or government employees and are not entitled to wages or benefits under applicable wage laws or labor regulations," the document reads.
ICE remains under heightened scrutiny amid increased enforcement activity, growing detention populations and ongoing court battles over the role of detainee labor inside privately operated facilities.
Newsweek has contacted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment via email.
Labor Lawsuits Put Detention Practices Under Scrutiny
ICE and its contractors continue to defend themselves against a series of lawsuits alleging detainees were paid little or nothing for essential work performed inside detention centers.
GEO Group, one of ICE's largest private detention contractors, has faced lawsuits in several states over claims that detainees were paid roughly $1 per day to perform jobs such as cooking, cleaning, and maintenance.
In Washington State, courts upheld more than $23 million in awards against the company after detainees at the Tacoma detention center argued they were illegally denied the state minimum wage.
The dispute has also reached the U.S. Supreme Court. In February 2026, the justices unanimously allowed a long-running Colorado class-action to continue, rejecting GEO’s effort to obtain an immediate appeal on contractor-immunity grounds.
The Colorado case alleges that detainees at the Aurora facility were required to perform janitorial and other essential work for little or no pay
This raised broader questions about whether private contractors operating federal immigration facilities can be held liable under state labor laws and federal forced-labor statutes.
New Standards Expand ICE's Authority
Under the new standards, detention facilities must accept all detainees assigned by ICE, eliminating any general right of refusal by contractors. The provision centralizes control over detainee placement within the agency and limits the discretion of private or local operators.
The standards also require facilities to provide language-access services, broaden disability-accommodation requirements, revise disciplinary procedures involving mental health concerns and permit certified facilities to prepare kosher and halal meals in-house under approved religious guidelines.
AI, Language Access and Mental Health Rules Added
A new standalone language-access policy requires facilities to provide interpretation and translation services free of charge to detainees with limited English proficiency.
The policy allows limited use of artificial intelligence tools in noncritical situations, marking the first explicit incorporation of such technology into detention operations.
Additional safeguards govern the use of segregation. Facilities must issue written orders for all placements and notify ICE within 72 hours, while adding monitoring requirements for detainees with serious mental illness and mandating removal if conditions deteriorate.
The standards also shorten the timeline for mental health evaluations from seven days to five and require facilities to seek transfers when they cannot adequately meet a detainee's medical or mental health needs.
DHS wrote in a post on X that "ICE is always looking at ways to improve our detention facilities to ensure we are providing the best care to illegal aliens in our custody."
Additional changes include allowing detainee handbooks to be distributed electronically, with printed copies available on request, and establishing new federal recordkeeping requirements that, in some cases, require indefinite retention.
ICE says the revisions are intended to streamline operations, reduce administrative burdens and align detention policies more closely with other federal systems.
"As part of the revision process, ICE consulted with a variety of stakeholders, including facility operators responsible for implementing the standards,” Lauren Bis, a spokeswoman for DHS, told The Washington Post.
"ICE considered that input alongside operational, legal and policy requirements when making a final decision on the standards.”
According to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse data, ICE held 60,311 people in detention as of April 4, 2026.
Private Contractors Remain Central to ICE Operations
Private contractors play a key role in the system. Geo Group and CoreCivic together operate a large share of the country’s immigration detention capacity through federal contracts, including detention centers, transport services, and electronic monitoring programs.
David Venturella was appointed to lead ICE in 2026. He is a longtime immigration enforcement official who spent more than a decade as a senior executive at Geo Group before returning to government.
After rejoining ICE in 2025, Venturella led the division overseeing detention contracts, placing him at the center of the agency’s relationship with the private operators that run many of its facilities.
What the Changes Could Mean Going Forward
Taken together, the revisions represent one of the most-significant updates to ICE detention policy in years. They centralize authority within the agency, reshape how detainee labor is defined and establish new operational requirements across the detention system.
By stripping out wage language, tightening facility obligations and formalizing new rules on language access, health care, segregation and records, the agency is not just updating paperwork; it is redrawing the line between detention as custody and detention as a source of labor, with consequences that are likely to reverberate through the courts, contractor boardrooms and the thousands of people held inside the system.
The Full List
The changes are:
- Removal of detainee pay language ($1/day provision removed)
- Explicit statement that detainees are not employees
- Facilities must accept all detainees assigned by ICE
- New standalone language-access policy
- Limited use of AI translation/communication tools
- Expanded disability-accommodation requirements
- Changes to disciplinary procedures involving mental health
- New segregation and isolation oversight requirements
- Mental-health evaluations shortened from seven days to five
- Expanded recordkeeping requirements, including indefinite retention in some cases.
