FAIR Take | April 2024
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), one of the two key agencies within Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), unilaterally took steps to divorce itself from ICE. The official announcement described the move as a “rebranding” so that Americans won’t associate its activities with immigration enforcement. According to HSI leaders, the move will allow it to focus more on other crimes rather than on the illegal alien population in the United States. In reality, the separation reflects an ongoing push by the Biden Administration and allies to weaken interior enforcement and advance an “Abolish ICE” agenda.
Border security and enforcement has been a core focus of HSI’s mission since its creation in 2010. Some of the crimes they investigate include human smuggling and human trafficking, and other crimes related to “the illicit movement of people and goods into the United States.” HSI also conducts worksite enforcement operations, and oversees the large international student population and hundreds of schools (including flight schools) that participate in the Student Exchange and Visitor Program.
Even though HSI plays a critical role in ICE’s overall enforcement efforts, the agency’s rebrand seeks to move its mission away from immigration enforcement altogether. According to Patrick J. Lechleitner, ICE’s Acting Director (and recently former Executive Associate Director of HSI), the rebrand will help HSI agents “work without the undue toxicity that in some places comes with the ICE moniker.” That toxicity, however, can clearly be traced back to open-borders and anti-enforcement rhetoric from the Biden Administration and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Mayorkas. To begin the rebrand, HSI has changed its website domain from being associated with ICE and will move to create their own badges and support staff and program offices.
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The other half of ICE, known as Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), issued a message to his staff last week regarding the split. In it, ERO leadership said its “mission will not be swayed by political theater or media rhetoric, and our identity will remain steadfast.” ERO’s mission is “to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of those who undermine the safety of our communities and the integrity of our immigration laws.”
The “Abolish ICE” movement, condoned and even encouraged by the Biden Administration, has resulted in many cities, counties and states adopting sanctuary policies prohibiting cooperation with immigration enforcement efforts. According to HSI’s Executive Associate Director, Katrina Berger, “being branded as ICE, having an ICE email address, we’re oftentimes not able to partner with law enforcement in certain jurisdictions that aren’t working with ICE.”
Sadly, rather than standing up to such sanctuary jurisdictions, the Biden Administration is allowing ICE and its leadership to cave to them. President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas should be focused on increasing cooperation with local and state law enforcement to keep Americans safe and enforce our laws, not putting illegal aliens first and prioritizing a radical, open-borders agenda.
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