Thread: ICE tells Congress the agency is producing results

I.C.E. News Release

April 14, 2010

ICE Assistant Secretary tells Congress the agency is producing results along the Southwest border

WASHINGTON - Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), John Morton testified before Congress today on Southwest border security, saying "our efforts to dismantle cross-border criminal organizations are producing results."

In his update before the U.S. House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Homeland Security, Morton outlined ICE's commitment to ensuring that U.S. borders are secure and to curbing the bilateral flow of contraband including guns, money, and drugs.

To that end, ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) combined have seized $85 million in illicit cash along the Southwest border - a 22 percent increase over the same period during the previous year. Together, they also seized more than 1,400 firearms and more than 1.6 million kilograms of drugs - increases of 22 and 14 percent respectively over the same period last year.

In addition to moving additional manpower and infrastructure to the Southwest border, ICE has strengthened information sharing and integration with state and local law enforcement agencies as well as with Mexican authorities. ICE has doubled the personnel assigned to the ICE-led Border Enforcement Security Task Forces (BEST), bringing together federal, state, local and Mexican authorities to crack down on crime, and has tripled the number of ICE intelligence analysts along the Southwest border.

"ICE is fully committed to the effort's primary focus of conducting intelligence-driven border enforcement operations to disrupt and dismantle violent cross-border criminal organizations negatively impacting the lives of the people on both sides of our shared border," Morton said.

Morton also discussed new ICE-initiated programs to address the escalating violence around Ciudad Juárez. These include the temporary suspension of removing Mexican nationals with criminal records through Ciudad Juárez and increased collaboration between Mexico's Tactical-Operative Intelligence Unit and the ICE BEST teams to address narcotics smuggling, weapons violations, money laundering and human smuggling and trafficking in the El Paso-Juárez area.

Please visit http://www.ice.gov/doclib/pi/news/testi ... border.pdf to read Assistant Secretary Morton's testimony.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

ICE comprises four integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit www.ICE.gov. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423.

Last Modified: Wednesday, April 14, 2010
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1004/100414washington.htm

Isn't it a crime to lie to congress?

No offense against our valiant honorable I.C.E. employees but this is a drop in the bucket compared to the magnitude of the entire problem. It's good to hear they are making some slow progress.

Congress on the other hand doesn't measure up to their job of preserving border safety and security of this nation with their conditional limitations, underfunded manpower assistance, faulty technological planning, approval of increased visas, funding of ethnic-exclusive organizations that push for open borders, and duplcitous legislation.

You'd think they (Congress) could have stood behind their own laws in the first place. That's the incredible difference between professionals and "vote jockeys".

ICE plans to allow Mexico to charge some smugglers

04/14/2010

Associated Press

Mexico will be able to prosecute some accused drug smugglers caught in the U.S. under a new program being launched by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, officials said Wednesday.

The Illegal Drug Program will focus on cases that U.S. prosecutors decline to take on, said John Morton, assistant secretary of Homeland Security for ICE. Morton briefly described the program to a congressional subcommittee in Washington, saying it will help ensure that more suspected smugglers are prosecuted.

Details of the program were expected to be released Thursday when ICE officials visit El Paso, said Leticia Zamarripa, an ICE spokeswoman in El Paso. She said the international prosecution plan will not apply to U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents.

Morton said the effort is similar to a program used by the Border Patrol since 2005 that allows U.S. agents to refer human smuggling cases that wouldn't be pursued in the U.S. to Mexican authorities.

www.dallasnews.com