Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Monday 31 deceMber 2018
Under Trump, ICE is face of

hard-line immigration policy

By COLLEEN LONG ference table in an ordi- of a crime. But the data
Associated Press nary office in a nondescript also show the agency has
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The office park in the suburbs, greatly ramped up arrests
officers suit up in the pre- going over their targets for of people who were ac-
dawn darkness, wrapping the day: two men, both cused of a crime but not
on body armor, snapping with criminal histories. Top convicted, and increased
In this Jan. 10, 2018, file photo, U.S. Immigration and Customs in guns, pulling on black of the list is a man from arrests solely on immigra-
Enforcement agents gather before serving an employment au- sweat shirts that read PO- El Salvador convicted of tion violations.
dit notice at a 7-Eleven convenience store, in Los Angeles. LICE and ICE. drunken driving. ICE arrested 32,977 people
Associated Press They gather around a con- U.S. Customs and Immigra- accused of crimes and
tion Enforcement's enforce- 20,464 with immigration
ment and removal opera- violations during the bud-
tions, like the five-person get year 2018. There were
field office team outside 105,140 arrests of someone
Richmond, hunt people in with a criminal conviction
the U.S. illegally, some of and 158,581 arrests overall.
whom have been here for The most frequent criminal
decades, working and rais- conviction was for drunken
ing families. Carrying out driving, followed by drug
President Donald Trump's and traffic offenses.
hard-line immigration poli- By comparison, in the last
cies has exposed ICE to budget year of the Obama
unprecedented public administration, there were
scrutiny and criticism, even 94,751 people arrested with
though officers say they're convictions, 6,267 arrests of
doing largely the same job those with pending charg-
they did before the elec- es and 9,086 on immigra-
tion — prioritizing criminals. tion violations. There were
But they have also stepped 111,104 arrests overall.
up arrests of people who Advocates say a traffic vio-
have no U.S. criminal re- lation shouldn't be enough
cords. It is those stories of to get you kicked out of the
ICE officers arresting dads country. They accuse the
and grandmothers that agency of stoking fear and
pepper local news. Officers tearing families apart.
are heckled and video- "You need some kind of
taped. Some Democratic agency to deal with immi-
politicians have called for gration, but ICE is not that,"
ICE to be abolished. New York City Mayor Bill de
ICE employees have been Blasio, a Democrat, said on
threatened at their homes, radio station WNYC. "ICE's
their personal data ex- time has come and gone;
posed online, officials said. it is broken. ICE has been
"There is a tension around sent on a very negative, di-
'It could be that some- visive mission, and it cannot
body could find out what function the way it is."
I do and hate me for it or In response, some cities
do worse than hate me for have banished ICE from
it,'" Ronald Vitiello, acting jails where they could easily
head of the agency, told pick up immigration viola-
The Associated Press. tors. Police in New York, Bal-
Vitiello said the agency is timore and Seattle rarely, if
monitoring social media ever, give up information
and giving employees re- on when suspected crimi-
sources for when they feel nals in the U.S. illegally will
threatened. be released from custody.
ICE, formed after the Sept. ICE officers now do more
11 attacks, had been told street operations and say
under the Obama adminis- they end up with more "col-
tration to focus on remov- lateral arrests," people they
ing immigrants who had happen upon who are also
committed crimes. Trump, in the country illegally. They
in one of his first moves in rarely knock on doors any-
office, directed his adminis- more, instead spending
tration to target anyone in hours surveilling and wait-
the country illegally. ing outside. They haunt
Government data back courthouses.
up that ICE is still mostly tar-
geting people convicted Continued on Next Page