ICE Told to Make More Warrantless Arrests

According to internal agency emails seen by the Guardian, senior US immigration officials gave rank-and-file officers instructions over the weekend to “turn the creative knob up to 11” when it comes to enforcement, including by questioning and perhaps detaining individuals they referred to as “collaterals.” According to one email, staff members were encouraged to conceive of new ways to raise arrests and suggest them to managers, while officers were also exhorted to increase apprehensions and devise strategies to “push the envelope.” The directives not only signify a further hardening of rhetoric and mindset by the Trump administration in its pursuit of election pledges of “mass deportation,” but they also signal a further step up in efforts by keeping an eye out for undocumented individuals that officials may come across—here referred to as “collaterals”—while executing arrest warrants for other individuals.  Two senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officials sent out emails this past Saturday telling agents nationwide to make more arrests over the weekend.  This comes after immigration officials were pressured last month by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to increase immigration-related arrests to at least 3,000 individuals per day. The acting executive associate director of Ice’s enforcement and removal operations, Marcos Charles, wrote one of the emails, telling Ice officials to target anyone they might happen to run across.  Collateral arrests, according to experts, occur when Ice gets a warrant to arrest a specific person or people but, upon arrival, they may run into other people, including family members or coworkers, and arrest them as well.  This is true even though there aren’t any more warrants or proof of crimes.  People without criminal histories are frequently included in “collateral” arrests because being undocumented in the US is a civil crime rather than a criminal one.

Source: The Guardian