United States Immigration And Customs Enforcement

Immigration reform has been an issue in previous and current administrations. Policy makers experience difficulties in setting policies/ programs in place to address the issue. This policy was chosen for analysis because it affects us all. Immigration has always played a central role in the life and growth of the nation. (Civilright.org). In selecting this policy for analysis, I took into consideration that I, too, was an immigrant before I became a naturalized citizen. I was able to benefit from the policies in place at the time of my arrival in this

The United States of America, being a country founded by immigrants, is known all over the world as the land of great opportunities. People from all walks of life travelled across the globe, taking a chance to find a better life for them and their family. Over the years, the population of immigrants has grown immensely, resulting in the currently controversial issue of illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants are the people who have overstayed the time granted on their US, visa or those who have broken the federal law by crossing the border illegally. Matt O’Brien stated in his article “The government thinks that 10.8 million illegal immigrants lived in the country in January 2009, down from a peak of nearly 12 million in 2007.”(Para, 2)

In 1924, the U.S. Border Patrol started its service for our nation. Although changes have affected nearly every aspect of its operations from its earliest days, the values; professionalism, honor, integrity, respect for human life, and a shared effort, helped shape the Border Patrol from the early years and they still remain the same today.

The United States Border Patrol has a mission and duty to protect our borders through regulating laws and preventing illegal terrorists, drugs, and weapons from entering the United States. This has been a clear goal ever since laws have been passed to help secure our borders back in 1924. The need for Border Patrol and the demand for tighter security plans have been increasing due to terrorist attacks on American soil, the presence of radical groups, and a high rate of crime in the United States. The big idea here is that as crime continues to develop so will our border securities. I would like to primarily focus on the current role of the Border Patrol versus what it might have been in years past. Many tragedies have occurred in recent times more than what was experienced years ago. The United States has suffered throughout the year 2000 and continues to suffer from severe threats to the nation. It only makes sense to make changes and tighten our borders in order to help prevent the ongoing crimes. If the Border Patrol does this than the individuals living in this nation will live in a better and much safer environment. Along with their current role, the research on the Border Patrol’s changes that either have hindered their work or made them more effective will be looked into as well.

But it wasn’t until the 1990s when the United States made dramatic shifts in immigration policy with the usage of detention as the primary means of enforcement. After the 9/11 attacks, the Homeland Security Act (HSA) was passed by Congress, which entailed the replacement of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (Coleman, 2007). Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the leading investigative agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the primary purpose of ICE is to promote homeland security and public safety by enforcing federal laws concerning border control, customs, trade, and immigration, (taken from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website). The push toward the privatization of detention centers has an essential impact of the global spread of neoliberal policies. These policies have been vigorously promoted by the USA through the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, two development and financial organizations dominated by the USA (Ackerman & Rich,

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, immigration control and national homeland security have been issues of concern for both the national government and private citizens. In the wake of the attacks, a lot of articles were written about what the appropriate response should be to prevent another attack. In 2004, Mark Krikorian wrote an article for the Providence Journal entitled “Safety through Immigration Control” in which he contends that the only means to keep America safe from a follow-up attack is to strengthen and enforce immigration law to prevent terrorists from being able to enter the country. Edwidge Danticat, writing for The Nation in 2005, provides a juxtaposition to Krikorian’s stance in her essay “Not Your Homeland”, in which she describes her witnessing of the inhumane conditions many immigrants are forced to endure in the name of increased security to protect the country. She questions whether the added protections are worth the human cost we are paying by treating immigrants and refugees as guilty until proven innocent. At the crossroads of these two perspectives lies the question: what is the proper balance between national security and the humane treatment of immigrants?

Terrorism has always existed in American policing, and while the groups committing these acts have changed, their intentions have not. Their intentions being to cause maximum fear and scare those who they target into doing and following their ideology. In the 1970’s and 1980’s in America, the main terrorist groups were associated with the environmental movement and race based groups, while other parts of the world were dealing with Islamic extremists, were committing terrorist acts across the Middle East without much intervention from the United States. In fact the group Al-Qaeda, who attacked the World Trade Centers in 1993 and 2001, found its roots in the 1980’s fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan with weapons supplied by the Central Intelligence Agency. While the U.S. Federal Law Enforcement agencies knew of these groups, they underestimated the capabilities of lone wolf, small cell, and whole terrorist organizations. This was due to the fact that the Federal Law Enforcement agencies top priority was general crime such as organized crimes and white-collar crime.

There is an assessed 11 million illegal aliens that are living United States, and this population is projected to upturn by 500,000 yearly. Once a year, about 1 million people that are considered to be aliens are detained when they make the attempt to come in the United States unlawfully. Even though most of these foreigners arrive the United States for financial chances and family reunification, or they are avoiding civil trouble and political unrest, some are offenders, and some could possibly be terrorists. Every one of them is disrupting the United States' immigration laws. With that said, this paper will involve the case study of immigration enforcement and the circumstances around the issue.

This paper will be discussing the responsibilities and duties of the U.S. Department of Borders Protection (CBP). It will be explaining if what the CBP do is effective and how so. Also it will be explaining how they prevent terrorist attacks and how they work with other law enforcement agencies.

Basing their mission on national security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sees to identify and apprehend criminal aliens and other removable individuals from within the United States, as well as those along the border who are attempting to enter the U.S. illegally. During 2015 ICE conducted 235,413 removals (ice.gov). Even though ICE claims to only detain and deport those who are criminals and threaten national security, ICE detains children, women, and those who have no criminal record. ICE takes part in racial profiling in order to determine who is illegal. In order for ICE to systematically support deportation they illegally enter homes, raid communities, and intimidate people and exploit individuals lack of education and resources.

Illegal immigration was an issue in the past and is a pressing problem in the present. The U.S. Government has been trying to find a resolution to this issue for years. The United States approved the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986, which allowed the American Government to punish American companies that consciously employed illegal immigrants (Nadadur 1037-1052). The United States’ Government Immigration Reform and Control Act has been unsuccessful in controlling illegal immigration. It is estimated that illegal immigration into the U.S. has a yearly interval of three hundred fifty thousand people (Rousmaniere 24-25). It is apparent that the 1986 act was not able to keep a handle on illegal immigration. Illegal immigration

In my findings and analysis I will have the opportunity to answer the research question, I interview a Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officer and a relative who experienced staying at different detention centers in Texas for six months before she was deported to El Salvador. Before I started with the interviews I let them know about my research question and then I followed up with interrogations and thoughts, details and opinions. The first interview I conducted was with the ICE officer; Mr. Fields believes that to build a wall at the border will not solve any immigration problems. He believes only criminals should be detain and deported. He said when they arrest people that do not have a criminal record they let them go, if they arrest them in the United States, when they arrest people at the borders they investigate them and most of them are looking for asylum. He said every case is different; the judge approves some cases when they go to their court hearing. Other detainees get a bail and if they cannot pay the bail they get deported. He strongly believes there are good people and bad people and he shared that he grew up in East LA. I questioned him about his thoughts or opinions regarding the law SB 1070 in Arizona and he said those laws do not apply here, it would be hard to comment on them and he would keep it personal. He believes undocumented immigrants or aliens like he called them are not deviant, he believed they are normal people.

The United States of America has always been a refuge where poor and oppressed people from the far corners of the world can come to begin a new life. Much of the nation’s allure to prospective immigrants is in its promise of equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, creed, or color. But the pressures of rising unemployment rates, congested cities, a crippled healthcare system, and national debt skyrocketing out of control have caused America to defend her borders against the influx of immigrants that threaten her already ailing economy. Still, despite all the heightened security measures incorporated in recent decades, a steady stream of immigrants continue to enter the country illegally. The Washington Times reports that there are

Despite all international agreements or recommendations, every day in the United States the abuses against immigrants such as arbitrary detentions, no due process, expedited removal, separation of families, and inhumane working conditions are increasing under the justification of “national security”.

These employees serve in positions such as import specialist, auditor, international trade specialist, and textile analyst.