Detention as Deterrence

Does immigration detention deter unauthorized migration? The federal government has argued that “one particular individual may be civilly detained for the sake of sending a message” to others “who may be considering immigration.” Emerging empirical research, however, provides little to no evidence that detention has had the type and level of deterrent effect desired by the federal government. Why might this be so? This Essay addresses this question by examining three key “deterrence hurdles” that present challenges to detention as deterrence.