Agents seek to dissolve ICE in immigration policy backlash

From The New York Times

WASHINGTON — At least 19 Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators are seeking to dissolve the agency, concerned that the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal migrants has limited their ability to pursue national security threats, child pornography and transnational crime.

In a letter sent last week to Kirstjen Nielsen, the Homeland Security secretary, the special agents proposed creating a stand-alone investigations unit and another agency to handle immigration detention and deportation. The request was sent as a growing number of Democrats and immigration-rights advocates have called for eliminating ICE.

Investigations “have been perceived as targeting undocumented aliens, instead of the transnational criminal organizations that facilitate cross border crimes impacting our communities and national security,” wrote the agents from Homeland Security Investigations, which is a branch of ICE. The Texas Observer first reported the letter.

Read The New York Time’s full article here.

Earlier in June, ICE raided Corso’s Flower & Garden Center in Ohio, which resulted in the arrest of 114 of the company’s employees. Corso’s issued a statement after the raid saying it was “fully cooperating with the government’s investigation.”

In the weeks after ICE raided the Corso’s, members of Congress weighed in on the event. U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur said she would visit the detention centers holding detainees of the ICE raid.

In a previous webinar hosted by the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition (IBIC), Anna Morzy, an immigration attorney from Fragomen Del Rey Bernsen & Loewy LLP, offered best practices for employers to prepare for ICE audits.