As a result of the terrorist activities of September 11, 2001, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was dissolved in a hailstorm of political critique. The INS was accused of failing to prevent terrorists from entering the country. In response, Congress voted in the “Patriot Act,” which created a new agency more able to deal with the threat of foreign threats: the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The DHS is made up of three parts:
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
ICE is the DHS’s policing arm. ICE could be thought of as the “immigration enforcers,” investigating such crimes as: drug and gun smuggling, passport fraud, human trafficking, money laundering, child pornography, terroristic threats, and more.
On its website ICE states that its mission is “to protect America from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threaten national security and public safety. This mission is executed through the enforcement of more than 400 federal statutes and focuses on immigration enforcement and combating transnational crime.”
Between October 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021, ICE:
- Seized 2.4 million pounds of illegal narcotics
- Made 12,025 felony arrests and 74,082 administrative arrests
- Deported 2,718 gang members
- Assisted 728 human trafficking victimes
- Seized $58 million in illicit COVID-19 proceeds
- Deported 59,011 people
- Seized $973 million in fraudulent currency and related assets
How Is ICE Organized?
With an annual budget exceeding more than $5.7 billion and more than 20,000 employees with backgrounds in the military, law enforcement, law, government, and management, ICE has become a major federal law enforcement agency. ICE operates throughout the United States and in 47 foreign countries
It is organized into two principal operating components:
- Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO): ERO is responsible for paying particular attention to fugitives and illegal aliens who pose a threat to national security, as well as individuals who recently crossed the border. The ERO is also responsible for managing aliens in custody.
- Homeland Security Investigations (HSI): HSI is responsible for investigating terrorists and other criminal organizations. HSI is responsible for investigating weapons and contraband smuggling, human smuggling, financial crimes, and of course, immigration crime.
Within those operating components, ICE is composed of various additional divisions. Some of these are:
- The Office of Federal Protective Service. This is the security guard for all federal buildings and facilities.
- The Office of Investigations is the “FBI” arm for ICE, analyzing and investigating immigration violations, contraband and money laundering, and other crimes.
- The Office of Detention and Removal Operations detains illegal aliens in immigration jails and works to deport them.
- The Office of Congressional Relations reports ICE’s goals, policies, and activities to Congress
ICE’s website maintains a tip line where you can report suspicious activity, a page where you can find out where a particular detainee is being held, a victims’ hotline, a page where you can check in about your own immigration status, and a page linking visitors to the Student Exchange and Visitor Program.
What Immigration Services Does the ICE Provide?
ICE maintains the “Student and Exchange Visitor Information System” (SEVIS), a computerized tracking system collecting and maintaining personal information about international students attending U.S. schools and colleges. School officials are responsible for inputting student information into SEVIS, and students are responsible for updating any of their own changed information.
SEVIS is not meant to help students; rather, it is used to keep track of them and deport them if they violate their visa status. ICE uses the information that universities and colleges input into the SEVIS system to keep tabs on student addresses, enrollment, courses of study, employment and conformity with the terms of their status.
What Criticisms Does ICE Face?
ICE is the branch of the DHS which enforces immigration laws. As such, ICE has the power to apprehend persons suspected of being in the country without the proper documents. ICE has been criticized for the way it detains illegal immigrants, especially young women and children. Since these individuals are held in the same custodial facilities as child molesters and human traffickers, stories about sexual attacks have become unfortunately common.
In 2021, an ICE-supervised private immigration jail in Arizona was found to have violated COVID-19 protocols (failing to wear masks, for example), leading to a massive spread of the virus within the jail. It also refused to provide medical attention to prisoners, including cancer medication to a man whose leukemia medicine ran out. Prisoner’s rights are, therefore, a major point of debate about ICE.
Another point of contention is that prisoners held by ICE have no right to legal representation, a fact which puts the prisoners at a great disadvantage.
Moreover, adults are often arrested and jailed for immigration violations, separating parents from their children. Immigration issues should be separated from criminal enforcement, argue some. ICE officers say they’re doing the same job they did before the 2016 election — enforcing U.S. laws that were on the books long before 2016 and prioritizing criminals. But they have also increased arrests of people who have no U.S. criminal record. It is those stories of ICE officers arresting grandmothers that has put ICE in the news.
What Criminal Procedure Does ICE Have To Follow When Making an Arrest?
ICE can detain a suspect for 48 hours without a warrant, and longer in an emergency. At the end of the 48 hours, ICE must either release the alien or begin the procedures for the person’s deportation. ICE need not be in a hurry – it can hold a person for up to six months in custody before deporting them.
Rather than jailing them, if it chooses to do so ICE can release detainees on a bond. Detainees have the ability to challenge the amount of the bond at a court hearing. Detained persons can also challenge their detention by arguing that they are not a terrorist, an illegal immigrant, human trafficker, or any of the other groups the ICE has the power to detain.
What If My Home Country Will Not Let Me Back In?
Many individuals detained by ICE cannot go home because their government will not let them back in the country. This is usually because the alien has a criminal record in their home country. This situation has led to people being held by ICE in jail indefinitely.
The catch in this policy is that aliens can be held even without a trial. The Supreme Court has held that these individuals can demand a writ of habeas corpus after six months. A writ allows the alien to challenge their arrest in court.
Do I Need a Lawyer for Help with ICE Issues?
As ICE itself reports, it has more than 400 federal statutes at hand to use to arrest you, detain you, and remove you from the country. It could be dangerous not to hire a lawyer if only to even out the odds. Keep in mind that during any immigration hearing, the United States will be represented by an attorney throughout the course of the trial. That will be an attorney who handles only that type of case.
You will likely feel more comfortable and less intimidated by the process if you have your own experienced, knowledgeable immigration attorney to protect you while ICE tries to deport you.
