Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson addresses an audience on March 21. | AP Photo Homeland Security to review privatized immigration detention

The Department of Homeland Security is considering curbing private immigration detention operations, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced Monday.

A DHS advisory council has until Nov. 30 to determine whether to follow the Justice Department’s lead after DOJ said earlier this month that it planned to reduce and eventually eliminate its reliance on privately owned prisons to house federal inmates.


“On Friday, I directed our Homeland Security Advisory Council, chaired by Judge William Webster, to evaluate whether the immigration detention operations conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement should move in the same direction,” Johnson said in a statement.

Johnson said he asked Webster to create an advisory council subcommittee “to review our current policy and practices concerning the use of private immigration detention and evaluate whether this practice should be eliminated.” The subcommittee will lead the review, while the full council will file its evaluation to Johnson and the director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement by the end of November.