ICE Agents Secretly Reassigned by Bush Administration
By Jim Kouri, 11/20/2007 11:55:13 AM

http://www.hawaiireporter.com


The latest news not being covered by the mainstream news media is President George W. Bush's reassignment of some 1,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to work as US Customs officers.

News of this reassignment began to leak out after a press conference by Julie L. Myers, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for ICE, announcing that special agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement had executed criminal search warrants at Koch Foods in Fairfield, Ohio.

ICE identified more than 180 Koch employees working at the Fairfield plant requiring further questioning and administratively arrested more than 160 for immigration violations. ICE agents simultaneously executed criminal search warrants at Koch's corporate office in Chicago.

The enforcement actions were part of a two-year, ongoing ICE investigation based on evidence that Koch Foods may have been knowingly hired illegal aliens at its poultry processing and packaging facility.

"While Secretary Myers tooted her horn about ICE and President Bush's strategy to curtail illegal alien workers, the Department of Homeland Security was already preparing to reassign ICE agents," claims former New York City detective Sid Francis.

"When it comes to government agencies, the liberal-left's -- including so-called "compassionate conservatives" such as Bush and Senator John McCain -- least favorite agencies are ICE and the US Border Patrol," said Detective Francis.

"The Bush Administration has always attempted to control the actions of its Immigration workers especially those assigned to Border Patrol and ICE. While telling Americans he's increasing border security and immigration enforcement, behind the scenes Bush is handcuffing federal agents in order to prevent them from having significant impact on illegal immigration," claims political strategist Mike Baker.

"Bush is once again appeasing his political pals in Mexico, while at the same time conning American citizens," accuses Baker.

In addition to the transfers, Immigration and Customs Enforcement criminal investigators will no longer be involved in immigration work site enforcement or conduct checks for illegal alien prisoners. This will mean that companies hiring illegal aliens will get a pass from the White House to hire illegal aliens, including companies that perform contract work for the US military.

Created in March 2003, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is the largest investigative branch of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The agency was created after 9/11, by combining the law enforcement arms of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the former U.S. Customs Service, to more effectively enforce our immigration and customs laws and to protect the United States against terrorist attacks.

According to their mission statement ICE does this by targeting illegal immigrants: the people, money and materials that support terrorism and other criminal activities. ICE is a key component of the DHS “layered defenseâ€