U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Abbreviation	ICE
ICE is a component of the United States Department of Homeland Security
Motto	"Protecting National Security and Upholding Public Safety"
Agency Overview
Formed	March 1, 2003
Preceding agencies	Criminal investigation resources of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service United States Federal Protective Service Investigative and intelligence resources of the United States Customs Service
Annual Budget	$5 billion (2008)[1]
Legal personality	Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional Structure
Federal agency	United States
Constituting instrument	Homeland Security Act of 2002
General nature	Federal law enforcement Civilian agency
Operational Structure
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Agency executive	John T. Morton, Assistant Secretary
Parent agency	U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for identifying, investigating, and dismantling vulnerabilities regarding the nation's border, economic, transportation, and infrastructure security. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., ICE is charged with the investigation and enforcement of over 400 federal statutes within the United States, and maintains attaches at major U.S. embassies overseas. Consequently, ICE agents possess broad investigative authority within the United States government.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

ICE is led by an Assistant Secretary, who is appointed at the sub-Cabinet level by the President of the United States, confirmed by the Senate, and reports directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security.^[7] The mission of ICE is to protect the United States and uphold public safety by targeting the people, money and materials that support terrorist and criminal activities.

[edit] History

ICE agents seizing narcotics during an arrest

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was formed pursuant to the Homeland Security Act of 2002 following the events of September 11, 2001. With the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security the functions and jurisdictions of several border and revenue enforcement agencies were combined and consolidated into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Consequently, ICE is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, and the second largest contributor to the nation's Joint Terrorism Task Force (after the Federal Bureau of Investigation).^[8]

The agencies that were either moved entirely or merged in part into ICE included the investigative and intelligence resources of the United States Customs Service, the criminal investigation resources of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the United States Federal Protective Service. Consequently, ICE is also charged with the protection of federal buildings within the United States. At one point, the Federal Air Marshals Service was moved from the Transportation Security Administration to ICE, but they were eventually moved back to the TSA.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Organization

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is responsible for identifying and eliminating border, economic, transportation, and infrastructure security vulnerabilities. ICE has an estimated 15,000 employees in 400 domestic and 50 international offices,^[9] though another official figure counts 17,200 employees.^[10] The organization is composed of four law enforcement divisions and several support divisions each headed by a director who reports to a Deputy Assistant Secretary.^[11] The divisions of ICE provide investigation, interdiction and security services to the public and other law enforcement partners in the federal and local sectors

ICE headquarters building in Washington, D.C.

[edit] Office of Investigations

OI uses its broad legal authority to investigate and combat a range of issues that threaten the national security of the United States such as strategic crimes, human rights violations, human smuggling, human trafficking, narcotics, arms trafficking and other types of smuggling (including weapons of mass destruction), immigration crimes, gang investigations, financial crimes, terrorism, computer crimes, and import/export enforcement issues. ICE special agents also conduct investigations aimed at protecting critical infrastructure industries that are vulnerable to sabotage, attack or exploitation.^[12]

[edit] Office of Federal Protective Service

The United States Federal Protective Service (FPS) is responsible for policing, securing, and ensuring a safe environment in which federal agencies can conduct their business by reducing threats posed against the more than 9,000 federal government facilities and interests nationwide. FPS is divided into 11 regions and has some of the broadest jurisdiction and responsibility in the federal law enforcement sector.^{[citation needed]} FPS inspectors/federal agents perform all duties attendant to the normal interpretation of a federal police officer function, including maintaining law and order, preventing or deterring disturbances, and investigating criminal activity. ICE/FPS inspectors/officers frequently deploy to FEMA-declared disaster areas as well as to National Special Security Events to provide police and protection services. These agents also perform threat assessments of federal properties and facilitate the overall protection of those assets and the people associated with them. FPS employs over 1,100 federal law enforcement officials nationwide, and over 15,000 contract security guards to perform its mission. ^[13]

[edit] Office of Intelligence

The Office of Intelligence uses its Intelligence Research Specialists for the collection, analysis, and dissemination of strategic and tactical intelligence data for use by the operational elements of ICE and DHS. Consequently, the Office of Intelligence works closely with the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

[edit] Office of Detention and Removal

ICE officers deporting a man wanted for two murders in Mexico

DRO is responsible for enforcing the nation's immigration laws and ensuring the departure of all removable aliens from the United States. DRO uses its Immigration Enforcement Agents (IEA) to interdict, apprehend, and remove criminal aliens found in the nation's jails and prisons. As such, IEAs are the uniformed presence of immigration enforcement within the interior of the United States. IEAs also are responsible for the transportation and detention of aliens in ICE custody. DRO uses its Deportation Officers to prosecute aliens for illegal re-entry after deportation, monitor cases during deportation proceedings, supervise released aliens who are subject to deportation, and to remove aliens from the United States.^[14] Deportation Officers and IEAs also operate strategically placed Fugitive Operations Teams whose function is to locate, apprehend, and remove aliens who absconded from immigration proceedings and remain in the United States with an outstanding Warrant of Deportation. DRO custody management consists of a partnership with the United States Marshals Service in operating JPATS, the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System, otherwise known as Con-Air to remove criminal aliens from the United States.^[15]

[edit] Office of the Principal Legal Advisor

OPLA provides legal advice, training and services to support the ICE mission and defends the interests of the United States in the administrative and federal courts.

[edit] Office of Professional Responsibility

OPR is responsible for investigating allegations of misconduct involving employees of ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). OPR preserves the organizational integrity of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement by impartially, independently and thoroughly investigating allegations of criminal or serious administrative misconduct by ICE and CBP employees worldwide. Additionally, OPR inspects and reviews ICE offices, operations and processes so as to provide executive management with independent reviews of the agency's organizational health. In this role, OPR assesses the effectiveness and efficiency of ICE in carrying out its mission.

[edit] Training

Newly hired ICE special agents, officers, deportation officers, immigration enforcement agents, and Federal Protective Service officers/inspectors undergo initial entry training at the ICE Academy on the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia. To meet division specific academic and practical instruction, the ICE Academy varies in length from 12 to 24 weeks depending on the position. Furthermore, following graduation, new ICE special agents and officers undergo additional post academy training, as well as career-continuous training, and are assigned to an ICE office anywhere in the nation as well as around the world. Professional support staff are also assigned to one of the many ICE offices.

[edit] ICE and immigration law

Immigration and Nationality Act Section 287(g) is designed to effectively multiply ICE forces through enhanced cooperation and communication with state, and local law enforcement agencies. Section 287(g) authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to enter into agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies, permitting designated officers to perform immigration law enforcement functions, pursuant to a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), provided that the local law enforcement officers receive appropriate training and function under the supervision of sworn U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Under 287(g), ICE provides state and local law enforcement with the training and subsequent authorization to identify, process, and when appropriate, detain immigration offenders they encounter during their regular, daily law-enforcement activity.^[16]

"The days of ignoring immigration law are over," Marc Raimondi, A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, said. "A failure to comply is not an option. The person ordered to be removed needs to comply with that order or we'll assist them with compliance. To think of people illegally in the country who have been convicted of crimes are walking around is outrageous."^[17]

ICE has played a key role in investigating and arresting citizens suspected of possessing and distributing child pornography.^[18] Because a vast majority of child pornography is produced in foreign countries, ICE special agents utilize their authority to investigate persons and groups that traffic in this type of contraband, the importation of which via traditional mail or internet channels constitute violations of customs laws.

[edit] Detention centers

ICE operates detention centers throughout the United States that detain illegal aliens who are apprehended and placed into removal proceedings. About 31,000 aliens are held in immigration detention on any given day,^[19] in over 200 detention centers, jails, and prisons nationwide.

In 2006, the T. Don Hutto Residential Center opened specifically to house non-criminal families. Other significant facilities are located in Austin, Texas (at the Travis County Courthouse); Elizabeth, New Jersey; Oakdale, Louisiana; Florence, Arizona; Miami, Florida; Seattle; York, Pennsylvania; Batavia, New York; Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, and all along the Texas–Mexico border.

[edit] Corporate contracts

Engineering and construction firm Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) released a press statement on January 24, 2006 that the company had been awarded a no-bid contingency contract from the Department of Homeland Security to support its ICE facilities in the event of an emergency. The maximum total value of the contract is $385 million and consists of a 1-year base period with four 1-year options. KBR held the previous ICE contract from 2000 through 2005. The contract provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to expand existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs. The contract may also provide migrant detention support to other government organizations in the event of an immigration emergency, the company said.

[edit] Medical neglect and deaths

In March 2008, a Los Angeles federal judge said that immigration officials’ alleged decision to withhold a critical medical test and other treatment from a detainee who later died of cancer was "beyond cruel and unusual" punishment.^[20] Chairman Zoe Lofgren of the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law said one of the things she found most troubling was that "bureaucrats" at ICE in Washington have the power to overrule recommendations of doctors who have actually seen the medical problems of detainees.^[20]

83 prisoners have died in detention or soon after in the five years since ICE was created in March 2003 until early 2008, and medical neglect may have contributed to 30 of those deaths.^[21] On August 6, 2008, 34-year-old New Yorker Hiu Lui Ng died in the detention of ICE.^[22] The editors of The New York Times condemned the death and urged that the system must be fixed.^[23] Chairman Zoe Lofgren of the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law introduced legislation requiring ICE to provide basic medical care to those in their detention and prohibit ICE from removing the lifesaving medication of people who they arrest.^[24] ICE has stated that the number of deaths per capita in detention is dramatically lower for ICE detainees than for U.S. prison and jail populations, that they provide "the best possible healthcare", and that the nation as a whole is "experiencing severe shortages of qualified health professionals".^[25]'

[edit] Equipment

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An Air and Marine Operations (AMO) Black Hawk supporting an ICE operation

ICE officers carry the Sig Sauer P229R pistol with the DAK trigger chambered in .40 S&W, the Heckler & Koch USP Compact with LEM trigger in .40 S&W, or the Glock 19 pistol chambered in 9x19 mm. Eventually, all ICE officers will transition to the Sig Sauer P229R-DAK as their primary sidearm. They also may be assigned the Remington Model 870 shotgun, the Steyr AUG rifle, the Colt M16 rifle, the FN P90 or the Colt M4 carbine. Agents and officers assigned to a Special Response Team (SRT) are specifically assigned the Colt M4 carbine while some operators may also carry the Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun, although these are being phased out.

ICE operates the only nation-wide radio communication system in the federal law enforcement community. The system, known as the National Law Enforcement Communications Center (NLECC) is Motorola-based and employs a technology specifically designed for ICE known as COTHEN (Customs Over The Horizon Network). Consequently, ICE agents, officers, and authorized subcribers are able to communicate with one another across the nation using NLECC's strategically placed repeaters and high-speed data lines. Additionally, the NLECC, commonly referred to as SECTOR, is based in Orlando, Florida.

[edit] See also

United States portal

Law enforcement/Law enforcement topics portal

• List of United States federal law enforcement agencies
• Office of CBP Air
• Operation Endgame
• Operation Front Line
• Serious Organized Crime Agency
• Shadow Wolves

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection
• U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• U.S. Immigration And Customs Enforcement Bureau Meeting Notices and Rule Changes from The Federal Register
• Federal Law Enforcement Training Center
• ICE detentions and criminal prosecutions of employers hiring illegal employees.
• ICE worksite enforcement efforts.
• Most recent detentions and statistics from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
• RSS Feed
• The Real Political Purpose of the ICE Raids from Dollars & Sense magazine

[edit] International agencies comparable to ICE

• Australian Customs Service
• RCMP Customs and Excise Branch - Canada
• RCMP Immigration and Passport Branch - Canada
• Serious Organized Crime Agency - UK
• RCMP Integrated Border Enforcement Teams - Canada

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