4 Key Facts About ICE, and What Could Happen If It’s Abolished

From The Daily Signal.com (Aug. 18):

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on Aug. 14 arrested and deported an illegal immigrant who is wanted in El Salvador on murder charges.

Brian Alejandro Martinez reportedly had been arrested and freed several times in New Jersey and New York. ICE officials criticized authorities in Middlesex County, New Jersey, for releasing Martinez without notifying the federal agency.

While Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent years has had to contend with “sanctuary” policies by cities and counties that protect illegal immigrants, the agency now faces a push by some in Congress to abolish it.

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The House adopted a resolution last month supporting ICE agents, but 167 Democrats refused to vote for it.

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Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio are among Democrats who have said they support getting rid of ICE.

Just 25 percent of voters say they are for abolishing the agency, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll released last month.

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Primarily an immigration enforcement agency that doesn’t operate on the border, Immigration and Customs Enforcement still performs other functions. Here are four major facts about ICE, and what could happen if it ceases to exist.

1. Protecting Minority Communities

If ICE were abolished, minority communities would be disproportionately harmed, said Matthew T. Albence, the agency’s executive associate director for enforcement and removal.

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2. Enforcing Immigration Law

When Congress created the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, it established ICE as the enforcement arm while U.S. Customs and Immigration Services would be in charge of naturalizing legal immigrants.

The 9/11 Commission noted that terrorists involved in the 2001 attacks exploited U.S. immigration rules and some of the hijackers violated the terms of their visas.

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3. Targeting Smugglers of People, Drugs, Guns

Immigration and Customs Enforcement also combats the smuggling of people, drugs, money, counterfeit merchandise, and weapons into the United States. This includes confronting sexual trafficking, and in some cases, fighting child pornography.

ICE made more than 11,000 arrests related to weapon offenses in fiscal year 2017, according to the White House.

The agency is also responsible for “repatriation of cultural treasures,” or returning expensive items stolen from another country.

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4. Preventing Terrorism

ICE also specializes in identifying dangerous individuals before they enter the United States, or finding them after they illegally enter.

The agency’s Counterterrorism and Criminal Exploitation Unit is comprised of two divisions: the Terrorist Tracking and Pursuit Group and the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System Exploitation Section.

The terrorist tracking group coordinates with other Homeland Security agencies to identify those who overstayed or otherwise violated their visas.

The student and visitor section investigates foreign nationals here for educational purposes who could be involved in criminal or terrorist activity or in intelligence gathering for a foreign power. [read more]

If enough anti-ICE politicians (mainly Dems) get into power ICE might just disappear. Keep in mind this is about keeping themselves in power and not protecting the people. Something to think about.