Tracking ICE Enforcement

ICE Enforcement - An Overview
Over the past decade, U.S. policies have been enmeshing immigrants in the criminal justice system and the “War on Terror”, with detention and deportation as critical tools.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is part of The Department of Homeland Security. It is the second largest law enforcement agency in the country with vast resources and infrastructure, including as many guns as the FBI. ICE is in charge of the investigations, arrests, detention and deportation of non-citizens both at the border and throughout the interior of the country.


Current ICE Structure and Operations

  • March 2003 – Department of Homeland Security Act: This Act dismantled the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and transferred its responsibilities to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with 3 bureaus: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).


  • March 2004 – Operation Endgame: This strategic plan from DHS’s Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) set out a ten-year goal to “remove all removable aliens” from the United States.


  • August 2006 – DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff announced the replacement of ICE’s practice of “catch and release,” in which non-Mexican immigrants who were apprehended along the border were eligible to be released on bond, with a policy of mandatory detention for anyone apprehended within 100 miles of the border within 14 days of entry into the U.S. This policy shift greatly added to the accelerating use of detention.

Coming Soon: Chart of U.S. government entities that oversee immigration.


Websites:

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services


The Impact of Enforcement


The recent impact of ICE enforcement includes:

  • Approximately 311,000 immigrants were detained in 2008, with an average of 31,345 per day. The average length of detention is currently 30.49 days.
  • More than 349,000 immigrants were deported in 2008, a record for the agency and a twenty percent increase over the previous year.
  • DHS has spent over $2.8 billion on efforts to deport immigrants since the creation of ICE in 2003.
  • In total, 2.2 million immigrants have been deported since 1994.
  • A 12 fold increase in worksite arrests between 2002 and 2008. A new trend is to use “identify theft” charges to put immigrants in the category of “criminal alien” to make it easier to deport them.
  • Over 100 “Fugitive Operations Teams” and the development of other specialized operations. ICE claims these are focused on specific groups but they are often used as a pretext for wide scale arrests in apartment complexes, workplaces, and public spaces.
  • 67% of ICE detainees are housed in local and county jail facilities, 17% in contract detention facilities, 13% in ICE-owned facilities, and 3% in other facilities such as those run by the Bureau of Prisons.
  • The Washington Post recently calculated that “with roughly 1.6 million immigrants in some stage of immigration proceedings, the government holds more detainees a night than Clarion Hotels have guests, operates nearly as many vehicles as Greyhound has buses and flies more people each day than do many small U.S. airlines.” (Washington Post, February 2, 2007)

October 23, 2008 ICE Press Release: ICE multifaceted strategy leads to record enforcement results


Costs of Enforcement


In 1996, before enactment of mandatory detention laws, the budget of the entire Immigration and Naturalization Service was $2.6 billion. This included not only the functions now carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but also the immigration services sector (now DHS’s Citizenship and Immigration Services), and border enforcement (now DHS’s Customs and Border Protection), which at that time fell under the INS umbrella.

Today, the United States spends nearly $6 billion on ICE operations alone. Government funding for ICE continues to increase almost exponentially. The total budget for ICE alone in the 2008 fiscal year is $5.58 billion, and $5.93 billion for 2009.

From the ICE Budget Fact Sheet Fiscal Year 2008:

  • Custody Operations: $1.65B
  • Transportation and Removal Operations: $282.5M
  • Alternatives to Detention: $53.9M

ICE 2008 Budget Factsheet

Click here to download ICE Budget Factsheets from other years, including 2009.

The average cost of detaining an immigrant is $95/day per person. Alternatives to detention are effective and significantly cheaper, with some programs costing as little as $12/day. Click here to learn more about Alternatives to Detention.


Local Law Enforcement Collaboration with ICE


ICE has embarked on a new trend of collaborating with local law enforcement through its ICE Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security (ACCESS) program. Authorized through INA section 287(g), the ACCESS program permits the deputization of state and local officials as federal immigration officers. In addition to the ACCESS program, a recent proliferation of state and local laws barring undocumented immigrants from working, obtaining housing, or using public benefits has created a disturbing intrusion into what has historically been a federal responsibility and has created widespread fear and disruption in communities.

Click here for more about ICE ACCESS programs.

Why is ACCESS problematic?

  • Local law enforcement agencies often do not have the resources to exercise this dual unfunded mandate.
  • Performing immigration duties interferes with local law enforcement’s larger tasks of keeping communities safe and secure.
  • Local law enforcement cooperation with ICE contributes to a culture of fear. Immigrants are often too afraid to call the police or seek help in an emergency which puts whole communities at risk.



Resources


Standing FIRM: An Online Community for Migrant Rights: A blog tracking raids and enforcement news.


Nebraska Appleseed: Forcing our Blues into Gray Areas: Local Police and Immigration Enforcement.


National Council of LaRaza: State and Local Police Enforcement of Federal Immigration Laws: A Toolkit for Advocates.


Progressive States Initiative, Sept 2008 Report: “The Anti-Immigrant Movement that Failed: Positive Integration Policies by State Governments Still Far Outweigh Punitive Policies Aimed at New Immigrants."


The Migration Policy Institute on Local Law Enforcement Cooperation with ICE: http://www.migrationinformation.org/integration/regulation.cfm


Learn more about Border Enforcement and Short-Term Detention.