What is the Young Adult Case Management Program (YACMP)?
“Although it contains the words “case management” in the program title, very little about the program plans seems to involve meaningful case management.”
In January 2023, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rolled out the Young Adult Case Management Program (YACMP), a new program that targets 18- and 19-year-old immigrant youth that ICE deems “non-dangerous” and “low fight risk.” Although ICE characterizes this program as an “Alternative to Detention (ATD),” the program’s design makes clear that it will not decrease reliance on detention, but instead increase the number of young people under government monitoring.
Rather than work collaboratively with youth to match them with support services based on individual needs, ICE unilaterally and arbitrarily enrolls young adults in YACMP if they are facing immigration court proceedings and are not detained, irrespective of their specific needs.
Further, ICE awarded nearly $20 million to Acuity International, a corporation with no experience in case management and a rebranded off-shoot of the troubled federal contractor Caliburn, to run YACMP for 18- and 19-year-olds facing immigration court proceedings, despite calls from nearly 90 organizations for independent, community-based case management services separate and apart from ICE’s funding and surveillance apparatus.
Who are the youth impacted by this new ICE program?
YACMP targets 16,000 immigrant youth aged 18 and 19 across 17 cities: Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, El Paso, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, and Washington, DC.
Youth enrolled in this new ICE program are likely to enter via one of three pathways:
1. As unaccompanied children who turn 18, and therefore “age out” of care in Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) custody, where federal law requires that they be cared for if under 18;
2. As young adults placed in removal proceedings by ICE after years of living in US communities;
or 3. As young people seeking safety who recently entered the US, with or without family.
These youth are frequently eligible for a variety of forms of protection and lawful status—including asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, trafficking or crime survivor visas, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
The young adults ICE plans to enroll in YACMP are particularly vulnerable and in need of individualized support, not an enforcement-oriented program. They have widely varying needs; some have lived in the United States for many years and have a strong support network here, while others have only recently arrived in the country and may need help with basic integration skills.
What we know about Acuity International, the corporation ICE has contracted to run this program
ICE has retained Acuity International, a corporation formed in 2021 by the former federal contractor Caliburn International. Caliburn was the private corporate entity that ran Homestead, a massive unlicensed detention center for unaccompanied immigrant children in Florida that closed after multiple allegations of sexual abuse and prison-like conditions. John Kelly, former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary under the Trump administration, was on the board of directors of this corporation that profted from the detention of immigrant children. Records show that Kelly is now on the board of Acuity International.
The YACMP contract stands in broad contrast to Acuity’s regular portfolio. Acuity requires no prior qualifcation or licensing for the YACMP case managers it is recruiting. Acuity’s other contracts originated from the Department of Defense and the Department of Agriculture.
YACMP was not designed in the best interest of immigrant youth.
Any post-18 support services must be voluntary, trauma informed, community based, and independent, driven by expertise in youth development and needs, and with clear restrictions on information-sharing with the government to ensure trust. YACMP does not align with these basic principles.
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