Author: erik.bugler
Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Leahy, and distinguished members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss our work at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
As Secretary Johnson has mentioned in previous congressional hearings, the Department is focused on the smart and effective enforcement of our immigration laws. Individuals who pose a threat to public safety or who are apprehended crossing the border illegally are enforcement priorities, and ICE is allocating enforcement resources accordingly, consistent with our laws. Day in and day out, ICE agents, officers, and attorneys focus their efforts and resources on the removal of individuals who have been convicted of felonies, those who have been convicted of significant or multiple misdemeanors, those actively and intentionally engaged in gang activity, and recent border entrants. Today, I am pleased to outline the role the dedicated men and women of ICE play in the arrest, detention, and removal of individuals meeting the Department’s enforcement priorities, and to highlight some of ICE’s recent initiatives and successes.
Executive Action and Prosecutorial Discretion
Approximately one year ago, on November 20, 2014, Secretary Johnson issued several memoranda, including Policies for the Apprehension, Detention and Removal of Undocumented Immigrants and Secure Communities, outlining enforcement priorities and guidance on the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. These priorities continue to inform our decisions to arrest, detain, prosecute, and remove individuals from the United States. Prosecutorial discretion is a long-established, widely-used practice in every area of law enforcement today. The ability to use good judgment on a case-by-case basis is one of our most important tools for ensuring that our laws are enforced fairly, humanely, and with the understanding that each decision will affect the lives of many individuals. ICE will continue to do the best job we can, within the bounds of existing law, to accomplish our mission, make strategic use of our resources, and improve efficiency and reporting.
Enforcement and Removal Operations
Guided by DHS’s enforcement priorities, the approximately 6,000 law enforcement officers of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) identify removable aliens and make arrest, detention, prosecutorial, and removal determinations in a manner designed to best promote national security, public safety, and border security while remaining consistent with the following priorities:
Priority 1 includes those who pose a threat to national security, border security, or public safety. Priority 2 includes those who have been convicted of significant or multiple misdemeanors, those who have significantly abused the visa or visa waiver programs, and those apprehended who unlawfully entered the United States after January 1, 2014. Priority 3 focuses on those individuals who have been issued a final order of removal on or after January 1, 2014.
ERO works to identify individuals who may be subject to immigration enforcement, including working with federal, state, and local law enforcement organizations to identify, locate, arrest, and remove dangerous convicted criminal aliens that pose a threat to the community. ERO works closely with ICE’s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor as it represents the government in removal proceedings in the immigration court system, administered by the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). ERO also coordinates the removal of individuals with final removal orders, including obtaining necessary travel documents from the countries to which they are being returned.