ICE National Detention Standards 2019 — Standard 1.1 Environmental Health and Safety (Pests and Vermin)

Citation

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, National Detention Standards, Revised 2019, Standard 1.1, “Environmental Health and Safety.” Published by ICE as a PDF at the primary source link above. Read on September 24, 2026.

What It Says (Verbatim)

I. Policy (opening):

“This detention standard protects detainees, staff, volunteers, and contractors from injury and illness by maintaining high facility standards of cleanliness and sanitation, safe work practices, and control of hazardous substances and equipment. The facility will operate in accordance with all applicable regulations and codes, such as those of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), …”

II.E Pests and Vermin (the section in full):

“Pests and vermin will be controlled and eliminated. Conditions which provide food, shelter, a medium for breeding, or harborage will be controlled and eliminated. The facility shall immediately notify ICE/ERO in the event of insect or rodent infestation.”

II.H.1 Barber Operations, paragraph e:

“No person will be served when infested with head lice but will be reported to the medical authority for appropriate care and treatment.”

What It Means in Plain Language

Section II.E has three sentences, and each does a different job.

1. The outcome. Pests and vermin are to be “controlled and eliminated.” Like the FDA Food Code, the word is eliminated, not reduced.
2. The conditions. The same verb applies to the conditions that sustain pests: food, shelter, breeding media, and harborage. The standard reaches the causes, not only the insects and rodents.
3. The notice. An insect or rodent infestation triggers an immediate notice to ICE/ERO. That is a reporting duty separate from the control duty.

The standard sets no inspection frequency and does not require a licensed contractor. Compare the Performance-Based National Detention Standards, which do both.

Who It Applies To

ICE’s own overview of the 2019 standards states that they were designed for “non-dedicated facilities.” Its background reads: “the growth of a network of dedicated immigration detention facilities, which are now largely covered by a separate set of standards – the Performance Based National Detention Standards (PBNDS). However, due to the scope of immigration enforcement and the importance of collaboration with local law enforcement agencies, ICE must continue to rely on state and local facilities to house its detainees. This updated version of the NDS, designed for non-dedicated facilities, streamlines many of the original requirements …” (ICE, National Detention Standards 2019, overview, https://www.ice.gov/doclib/detention-standards/2019/overview.pdf, read September 24, 2026).

In practice, this is the standard a county jail that holds ICE detainees under an intergovernmental agreement is most likely to be held to. Which standard set applies to a particular facility is fixed by its agreement with ICE.

Documentation Evidence

• Pest findings and the actions taken to control and eliminate them (II.E, first sentence)
• Work orders removing food, shelter, breeding media, and harborage (II.E, second sentence)
• A record of each notice to ICE/ERO of an insect or rodent infestation, with date and time (II.E, third sentence)
• Barber-area referrals of persons with head lice to the medical authority (II.H.1.e)

Confidence Notes

HIGH confidence. Every quotation was read from ICE’s PDFs on September 24, 2026, and checked against a full text extraction of each document.