ICE Agents Tell DHS It's Time to Separate Investigatory and Immigration Operations
A group of 19 special agents in charge from Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations recently asked Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to separate the transnational investigations arm of ICE from the agency immigration enforcement role. The agents said in a letter that "the two ICE sub-agencies have become so specialized and independent that ICE's mission can no longer be described as a singular synergistic mission; it can only be described as a combination of the two distinct missions (i.e., 'Enforcement/Removal and Transnational Investigations')." The agents propose that ICE be restructured into "two separate, independent entities" of HSI and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).
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While such a change would create some "administrative challenges," separating the agencies "will improve transparency, efficiency and effectiveness," the agents said. HSI will play a major role in implementing a 2017 executive order meant to help fight transnational criminal organizations. "For example, HSI focuses on the TCO's that import high levels of narcotics, including the extraordinary amounts of opioids flooding into the U.S.; utilizes its authorities to combat trade fraud;" and seeks out and arrests human traffickers, the agents said. "Every other Federal law enforcement agency is organized with one primary mission to improve focus and effectiveness," the HSI agents said. "CBP, as one enforcement agency example, focuses only on patrol/inspection/interdiction."
There are appearance issues, too, related to HSI's association with the immigration enforcement role, the agents said. "The perception of HSI's investigative independence is unnecessarily impacted by the political nature of ERO's civil immigration enforcement," they said. "Many jurisdictions continue to refuse to work with HSI because of a perceived linkage to the politics of civil immigration." Developing "two new effective agencies is a positive step for the Department," they said. "As modern government organizations succeed through dynamic, not static, missions and organizational structures, so should ERO and HSI continue to succeed by unlocking each agency's potential." The Texas Observer first reported on the letter. DHS and ICE didn't comment.