Action Left

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security has gone rogue and is now in direct violation of promises made by both Secretary Janet Napolitano and President Obama. Both have made commitments to scale back many of the inhumane immigration enforcement practices, such as night-time raids that tear children away from their families, and instead focus enforcement on people who have violent criminal histories, as well as employers who target undocumented workers for cheap labor.

But, last week the Washington Post leaked an internal ICE memo revealing that the agency operates under a quota system; this year their goal is to deport 400,000 people from the US. Worse still, the memo outlines a plan to increase efforts to deport non-criminal immigrants, that is people who’s only crime is incomplete paperwork or a minor infraction like driving without a license.

Why is this such a big deal? First and foremost, it exposes the dishonesty of ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton, who previously denied ICE’s use of quotas. Second, this approach is a giant waste of resources and funding that could be spent elsewhere. Third, and most egregiously, it targets the most vulnerable members of our communities – undocumented, tax-paying immigrant workers and their families.

Says Julianne Hing of RaceWire:

ICE, by its own admission, is sweeping up hundreds of thousands of people in its dragnet whose only crime is being here in this country without papers. And for this transgression immigrants are being torn from their children and sisters and aunties and parents and grandchildren. This is why the news of the revival of the deportation quotas is so galling to immigration advocates. President Obama has said he wants enforcement to be humane and reasonable, but his administration’s ICE agency has forsaken any commitment to those ideals in the name of widespread and indiscriminate enforcement.

What kind of a country pours countless resources and millions of dollars into an agency that lies about its internal practices and intentionally preys on our most vulnerable brothers and sisters while de-emphasizing the pursuit of violent criminals, all to boost their numbers and give each other a pat on the back?

ICE is proving itself to be little more than an organized, government-funded band of vigilantes bent on destroying families and sullying this country’s already precarious reputation. Between the tea baggers, the Hutaree militia and Texas Governor Rick Perry, this country has enough armed ignorant hate-mongers.

Join the SEIU as they call on President Obama and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to reign in rogue officers and keep enforcement focused on preventing violence and protecting our communities.