Thread: ICE Chief Morton to Field: See No Illegal Aliens

ICE Chief Morton to Field: See No Illegal Aliens
By Jessica Vaughan, August 19, 2010

ICE's misleadingly-named Office of State and Local Cooperation (OSLC) has announced the next step in the Obama administration's efforts to drastically diminish the scope of immigration law enforcement. According to a draft policy document now being circulated (See 1 below) among a limited group of stakeholders, ICE chief John Morton intends to prohibit not only his officers, but also local officers with 287(g) immigration authority, from busting illegal aliens who are discovered as a result of traffic violations.

Never mind that local patrol officers around the country routinely come across unlicensed illegal alien drivers in unsafe and/or uninsured vehicles, sometimes transporting vanloads of smuggled and illegally employed aliens with stolen identities. Forget the 9/11 terrorists, the Ft. Dix plotters, the Times Square bomber's money brokers, and the many other notorious illegal aliens who have driven our streets without fear of encountering local cops or immigration law enforcement. Don't mention that the Colorado State Patrol has eliminated (knock on wood) alien smuggling-related traffic fatalities by implementing a 287(g) program that removed illegal aliens caught driving unsafely on Colorado highways (see "The 287(g) Program: Protecting Hometowns and Homeland"). (See 2 Below)

According to the draft document's cover e-mail from Ann Yom Steel, a political appointee whose mission seems to be to harass and discourage local agencies who want to help ICE and who want ICE to help them, the agency is responding to the "many concerns [of immigration law enforcement critics] related to immigration detainers, including that they could distort the state criminal process or open the window for pretextual, minor criminal charges." In other words, ICE believes the ethnic advocacy groups who accuse local cops and sheriffs of abusing their authority by trumping up traffic charges on innocent illegal aliens in order to have them deported. Therefore, all illegal aliens who violate traffic laws will get a free pass from ICE, unless they also happen to have committed other "real" crimes. The policy draft says: "Immigration officers shall not issue a detainer unless an LEA [law enforcement agency] has exercised its independent authority to arrest the alien. Immigration officers shall not issue detainers for aliens who have been temporarily detained by the LEA (i.e. roadside or Terry stops) but not arrested," although the LEA may hold them without a detainer if ICE is coming right away (don't hold your breath).

Morton has already implemented a "catch and release" policy, whereby ICE catches removable aliens in jails or through local arrests, and then releases all but the most serious offenders from custody. Making matters worse, ICE agents are now defaulting to the most time-consuming deportation process – even obviously removable aliens are routinely dumped on the overloaded immigration court dockets to await hearings before an immigration judge – instead of using the perfectly legal and more efficient administrative procedures available to them to remove an illegal alien. This means that even criminal aliens can hang around for many months after they are discovered. While in proceedings they are usually free to continue their life of crime or impaired driving, as was the case with Carlos Montano, the drunk and illegal driver who recently killed a nun in Virginia. A very large share will not bother to show up for the immigration hearing when the day finally arrives. It's no wonder that the number of aliens removed this year is noticeably lower than last year. (see 3 Below)

But this policy goes farther, stipulating that ICE will not even take a look at the illegal aliens who expose themselves to law enforcement by committing a traffic violation. And, neither will those local officers who have discovered lots of illegal aliens in the course of enforcing traffic laws.

The locals are rightly upset. For one thing, Congress never intended for ICE to micromanage the 287(g) agencies in this way. One local officer had this to say about the proposed policy: "Just as many of us suspected, the introduction of Harold Hurtt [Yom Steel's boss, the embattled ex-police chief who kept Houston as a sanctuary city until several of his officers were killed by illegal aliens] (see 4 Below) as the director of OSLC is leading to policy proposals and changes that will slowly chip away from the little power we have at a local level to try and control the influx of illegal immigrants. Soon, the administration will make so many changes, they will then claim there is no longer any need for 287(g) and we will be back to where we were years ago – with no ability to identify illegal immigrants, beyond the ineffective Secure Communities, in our jails. That will, once again, place a larger burden on our local governments and place our citizens in danger."

Ann Yom Steel is collecting comments on the proposed policy, and you can submit them to her at ann.yom@dhs.gov, no later than September 30, 2010.

http://www.cis.org/vaughan/see-no-illegal-aliens

1 --- ICE Draft Policy http://www.cis.org/articles/2010/ice-draft-080110.pdf

2 --- The 287G Program" Protecting Hometowns and Homelands http://www.cis.org/287greport

3 --- Chart on Number or Aliens Removed http://www.ice.gov/doclib/dro/removals2 ... 072710.pdf

4 --- Hurtt Not So Good http://cis.org/Vaughan/Hurtt-Local-ICE-Liason

I.C.E. Programs

ICE has a broad range of law enforcement authorities, with responsibility for enforcing more than 400 federal statutes related to national security and public safety.

Among ICE's key programs and initiatives are the following:


Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security (ACCESS)

•Teams with state and local law enforcement agencies to combat specific criminal and public safety challenges in their communities. Read more


Asset Forfeiture/Equitable Sharing

•Seizes the assets of criminal organizations and, when eligible, shares proceeds with participating law enforcement partners. Read more


Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST)

•Investigate and dismantle transnational criminal enterprises at U.S. borders and key seaports. Read more


Border Violence Intelligence Cell
•Central point for timely analysis of all-source intelligence and information exchange on criminal activity at the border.


Bulk Cash Smuggling Center

•Tactical intelligence center dedicated to the collection, analysis and targeting of transnational criminal organizations transporting bulk currency. Read more


Cornerstone

•Targets criminal financial and trade schemes used to earn, move and store illicit funds and conducts industry outreach. Read more


Criminal Alien Program

•Identifies criminal aliens incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails for removal when sentences are complete. Read more


Customs Cross-Designation
•Grants customs investigations authority for selected task force operations. Read more


Cyber Crimes Center

•Provides ICE field offices with computer-aided technical and investigative services. Read more


Delegation of Immigration Authority, 287(g)

•Trains and grants specific, supervised authority to state and local law enforcement partners to enforce immigration laws. Read more


Document and Benefit Fraud Task Forces

•Combat fraudulent documentation and other immigration violations. Read more


Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force

•Combats transnational human smuggling organizations. Read more


Forensic Document Lab

•Combats travel and identity document fraud through analysis and operations support services. Read more


Fugitive Operation Teams

•Apprehend and remove fugitive aliens, especially those with criminal convictions, from the United States. Read more


High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force

•Participates in task force to coordinate drug control efforts among local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. Read more


Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Unit

•Targets human rights abusers who seek to evade justice for their crimes. Read more


ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers (IMAGE)

•Partners with employers to promote the use of screening tools, best practices and continuing education to achieve a legal workforce. Read more


Integrated Border Enforcement Teams

•Disrupts cross-border criminal activity.


Joint Terrorism Task Force

•As the second largest federal participant, ICE provides immigration and customs expertise to counterterrorism investigations. Read more


Law Enforcement Support Center

•Provides information to officers in the field on individual immigration status of suspects. Read more


National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center

•Combats criminal trade in counterfeit goods. Read more


Operation Armas Cruzadas

•Targets and investigates the illegal movements of weapons at the southwest border. Read more


Operation Community Shield

•Dismantles transnational gang organizations. Read more


Operation Firewall

•Combats bulk cash smuggling. Read more


Operation Predator

•Protects children from sexual exploitation. Read more


Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force

•Identifies, disrupts and dismantles international narcotics trafficking organizations. Read more


Project Shield America

•Identifies and investigates the illegal export of U.S. munitions and sensitive technology through cooperation with the military and dual-use technology manufacturers. Read more


Rapid REPAT

•Expedites removal of criminal aliens incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails by allowing selected aliens to accept early release in exchange for voluntary removal from the United States. Read more


Secure Communities

•Focuses federal resources on assisting local communities by identifying and removing high-risk criminal aliens. Read more


Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP)

•Manages information on international students and exchange visitors in the United States along with their dependents. Read more


Trade Transparency Unit

•Targets trade-based money laundering around the world. Read more


Worksite Enforcement

•Targets employers of illegal workers, especially at critical infrastructure worksites. Read more


Last Modified: Monday, May 3, 2010 U.S. Department of Homeland Security
-----------------------------------------------------
Read all about these programs @

http://www.ice.gov/pi/topics/

And exactly where is congress?

They are allowing this idiocy to continue

Our immigration laws DO NOT ALLOW ICE to pick and choose , ITS NOT THE WAY THE LAW IS WRITTEN

I don't understand why they are being allowed to get away with this.

Originally Posted by Justthefacts

And exactly where is congress?

They are allowing this idiocy to continue

Our immigration laws DO NOT ALLOW ICE to pick and choose , ITS NOT THE WAY THE LAW IS WRITTEN

I don't understand why they are being allowed to get away with this.

Everyone under Napolitano is following orders.
As with any other job, if they don't do what they are told to do they get fired.
Napolitano is doing what Congress and the White House tells her to do.
If she doesn't, she gets fired.

We live in a banana republic. These people are traitors and should be treated as such.

Are there any options for the locals or are their hands now
completely tied?
This is blatant obstruction of justice in a horrific
manner by this administration.
Frustrating to put it nicely.
When do they order Border Patrol/ICE to just
ingest the drugs,Take the money, and wave bye bye
to illegal aliens heading north or contaminating
our community's?

Added to Homepage

http://www.alipac.us/article-5580--0-0.html

Sent to Sessions.

Originally Posted by airdale

Are there any options for the locals or are their hands now completely tied?

We need a Sheriff Joe in every county in the country.