Thread: ICE unit in Phoenix area reducing its staff

ICE unit in Phoenix area reducing its staff

Agents redeployed as smuggling cases drop

by Daniel González and JJ Hensley - Jul. 13, 2012 11:36 PM
The Republic | azcentral.com

A federal unit that answers calls from local police to identify and deport illegal immigrants has been scaled back, leaving the team shorthanded just as local police prepare to start enforcing Arizona's immigration law.

The unit operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was created in 2006 to respond to requests for assistance from local police 24 hours a day, 365 days a year in the Phoenix area, long a major hub for illegal-immigrant smuggling.

But in June, ICE began reassigning members of the unit to help round up illegal immigrants in other states. It comes at a time when human-smuggling activity is down in the Phoenix area and the agency has shifted its priorities to deporting the most dangerous illegal immigrants.

But some immigration-enforcement advocates worry that downsizing the unit could further hamper ICE's ability to respond to calls from local police trying to enforce Arizona's immigration law, known as Senate Bill 1070.

Department of Homeland Security officials have already directed immigration-enforcement officials in Arizona not to deport illegal immigrants identified through enforcement of SB 1070 unless they meet the agency's priorities.

For the past year, ICE has shifted its priorities to focus on removing dangerous criminals, recent border crossers and repeat immigration violators, including those who have disobeyed orders to leave the country.

That has angered proponents of tough immigration enforcement who want ICE to deport as many illegal immigrants as possible.

"Secondary to ICE's ability to respond is the concern that the Obama administration has ordered them, even if they have the personnel, not to respond to any suspected illegal immigrant unless that individual has a serious criminal record or has previously been deported. That's the Number 1 enforcement problem," said state Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, one of the main backers of the Arizona law.

"Assuming we get a president next year who takes his oath of office to enforce laws seriously, then the lack of staffing of this special unit will be an issue."

Some police agencies that call ICE frequently are also concerned the federal agency may not respond as quickly as in the past, which may force them to let suspected illegal immigrants go.

"For a Highway Patrol trooper who gets people on the highway, it could just take longer for them (ICE officials) to respond," said Officer Carrick Cook, an Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman.

Sgt. Tommy Thompson, a Phoenix Police Department spokesman, said his agency so far has not noticed a change in ICE's ability or willingness to respond to calls from police.

"We still have to wait and see if that is going to be the case," Thompson said. "When we get a situation where we typically would need ICE's help, it's, 'Are they going to come, or are they not going to come?' "
Agency's changes in staffing

On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down three provisions of Arizona's immigration law but let stand the most controversial part requiring local police to check the legal status of every person they encounter while investigating other crimes if they suspect them of being in the country illegally.

Police can already ask about immigration status, but Arizona's immigration law will soon require them to do so when reasonable.
But under the Supreme Court ruling, police could potentially violate a person's constitutional rights if the suspect is detained under SB 1070 guidelines for longer than he or she would have been for regular questioning.

The law could take effect after July 20, once lower courts lift an injunction in place since July 2010.

ICE continues to operate the Law Enforcement Agency Response unit, or LEAR, said Amber Cargile, an ICE spokeswoman.

But the unit has been "refocused to respond, as resources permit, to those state and local law-enforcement requests for immigration-enforcement assistance when ICE determines that the individual involved meets DHS enforcement priorities," Cargile said in a written statement.

Those priorities include convicted criminals, illegal immigrants who have been deported from the country but re-entered, and recent border crossers, she said.

She also said some members of the unit have been reassigned to other states.

"Staffing levels fluctuate based on the agency's operational mission requirements," she said. "Currently, some agents normally assigned to LEAR have been detailed to other field offices to assist with the agency's nationwide priority criminal-alien removal efforts."

Cargile declined to disclose the number of ICE officers who belong to the unit or the number who have been reassigned to other offices, citing ICE's policy against discussing staffing levels.

Phoenix is still the only city in the country with a LEAR unit. Created in 2006, it included a supervisor and eight to 10 ICE officers available to respond at all times, said Phil Crawford, who at the time was the field director of deportation and removal operations for ICE.

At the time, ICE was being inundated with requests for help from the state DPS, Phoenix police and other local agencies in Maricopa County. Those agencies routinely encountered smuggling vehicles loaded with suspected illegal immigrants, or drophouses used by smugglers to hold illegal immigrants.

Crawford said the unit was "very effective" at helping local police combat human-smuggling organizations that were using the Phoenix area as a hub for transporting illegal immigrants to other parts of the country.

"By the time the team was fully set up, we had the capability of literally responding to every request for assistance (in the Phoenix area)," Crawford said.
Human smuggling drops

But there has been a sharp drop in recent years in the number of illegal immigrants crossing the border. As a result, human smuggling is less of a problem in the Phoenix area, according to police statistics and law-enforcement officials.

Statistics provided by ICE show that the number of calls for assistance to ICE from local police has fallen steadily.

The unit received 1,136 calls from federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies last fiscal year, down 34 percent from the 1,710 calls it received in 2008, the statistics show. In 2011, calls to the unit resulted in 2,878 arrests, down 63 percent from the 7,752 in 2008, the statistics show.

Calls for assistance are on pace to be even lower this year. Through May of this fiscal year, which started Oct. 1, the unit has received 520 calls, resulting in 1,133 arrests.

The number of drophouses encountered by ICE has also decreased steadily in the past four years, statistics show.

ICE responded to 51 drophouses last fiscal year, resulting in the discovery of 805 illegal immigrants and five hostages. That is down 73 percent from the 186 drophouses the unit responded to in 2008, leading to the discovery of 3,221 illegal immigrants and 40 hostages.
So far this year, ICE has found even fewer drophouses: 30 through the end of May, resulting in the discovery of 391 illegal immigrants and 15 hostages, according to the statistics.

Police statistics also show that human-smuggling activity has been declining in the Phoenix area.

The state DPS' Illegal Immigration Prevention and Apprehension Co-op Team, or IIMPACT, which works with ICE, has not investigated a kidnapping, assault, sexual assault, extortion or homicide case this year related to the human-smuggling trade, according to DPS statistics.
In 2008, the DPS team investigated 63 kidnappings, 31 assaults, three sexual assaults, 45 extortion cases and eight homicides related to human smuggling, the statistics show.
The DPS team made 74 felony arrests last year, compared with 168 in 2008. This year, the DPS has made 26 felony arrests related to human smuggling.
ICE officials say the decrease in smuggling activity in the Phoenix area correlates to a drop in Border Patrol apprehensions, a key indicator of the volume of illegal immigration.
Border Patrol apprehensions in the Tucson Sector, the nation's busiest, fell 40 percent last year and are at the lowest levels in nearly two decades.
In a statement, ICE officials attributed the reduction to the "unprecedented resources (the DHS) has deployed to the southwest border during this time period, as well as to expanded partnerships with federal, state and tribal partners and the government of Mexico."
They would not say, however, whether the decrease in smuggling activity played a factor in reassigning some members of the LEAR unit to other parts of the country.

Kavanagh, the immigration-enforcement advocate, said he agrees that illegal immigration and smuggling activity are down in the Phoenix area. He attributed it primarily to laws such as SB 1070 and the lack of jobs.

But he said reducing the LEAR unit could lead to a resurgence in illegal immigration and smuggling activity because the unit also acts as a deterrent.

"It's not surprising that things were reduced, because the heat was turned up," Kavanagh said. "Part of it could be the success of the unit."


ICE unit in Phoenix area reducing its staff

"Assuming we get a president next year who takes his oath of office to enforce laws seriously, then the lack of staffing of this special unit will be an issue."

A president who enforces our laws???? That would be a first.

I'm betting the reduction in illegal alien apprehensions can be attributed more to Obama's new policies than it can to a decrease in illegal immigration.

Originally Posted by MW

I'm betting the reduction in illegal alien apprehensions can be attributed more to Obama's new policies than it can to a decrease in illegal immigration.

I agree, he wants to swamp the country with illegal voters because he has alienated the US citizens with his socialist agenda. The illegals are used to it and since they don't speak the language, they do what their handlers tell them to do. Like vota for the dictator, that is what they are used to. JMO