Abolishing ICE
Hayley, Undergraduate Student (UM-Dearborn) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was formed as part of post-September 11th, 2001 legislation. ICE falls under the Department of Homeland Security and initially focused on combatting terrorism and human and drug trafficking. However, ICE is now synonymous with immigration raids, home invasions, and the tearing apart of families that have lived in the United States for decades. The fact that ICE is blanketed under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) implies that immigrants should be viewed as a threat to national security. We cannot turn a blind eye to how ICE has terrorized and continues to terrorize undocumented immigrants. In order to prevent ICE from preying on vulnerable undocumented immigrants, we must abolish ICE. We are familiar with the heartbreaking stories and the startling images of migrant children being detained and separated from their parents. In regard to this issue, the Indivisible Project’s policy director, Angela Padilla stated that, “ICE is terrorizing American communities right now. They’re going into schools, entering hospitals, conducting massive raids, and separating children from parents every day” (McElwee, 2018). As of mid-June 2018, the federal government was responsible for separating and detaining more than 2,000 children, housing them in cages in temporary facilities that were set up along the border. Children were detained at the border longer than the 72 hours allowed by law, and then proceeded to transfer the children to the Department of Health and Human Services, which kept then housed the children away from their parents in ‘tent cities.’ While children are separated from their families, they are detained in overcrowded facilities that fail to meet basic health and safety standards. This includes children being detained in cells with only enough room to stand, children are given inadequate amounts of food and water, and are denied hygienic products like soap and water. Along with this, children are often left to care for themselves and other children due to the fact that adult supervision was absent in many cases. It is worth noting that the separation of children from their families was intentionally planned as United States Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, stated while serving as United States Attorney General that, “If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you and that child will be separated from you as required by law” (American Oversight, 2020). ICE cannot continue to treat undocumented immigrants this way. One solution to this problem is to abolish ICE. It is inhumane and cruel to mass terrorize, detain, and deport, people for committing the civil violation, not a criminal act, of living in the United States without having documentation. Along with this, ICE has transformed into an agency that focuses on deporting immigrants rather than focusing on terrorism and trafficking like it was intended to. New York Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, wrote that, “I believe we need to protect families who need help, and ICE isn’t doing that. It has become a deportation force. We need to separate immigration issues and criminal justice. We need to abolish ICE, start over and build something that actually works.” Abolishing ICE has gained a lot of traction among different immigrant-rights groups that were disturbed by the Trump administration’s harsh deportation process. Several immigration-rights groups including the Indivisible Project and the Center for Popular Democracy have called for the defunding of ICE. Along with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, there are a number of other politicians including United States Representatives like, Mark Pocan and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Senator Elizabeth Warren who have all been vocal supporters of abolishing ICE. The abolishment of ICE will eliminate the President’s ability to use an unchecked power to conduct raids with the sole intention of deporting undocumented immigrants. With the abolishment of ICE, there are well-equipped agencies like the Department of Justice, the Department of Labor, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that will continue to investigate issues like gang violence, organized crime, drug trafficking, and human trafficking. While we should have secure borders that protect the United States from threats to our safety and security, it is shameful to direct and allow ICE to prey upon families who have likely come to the United States because they were in imminent danger. There is no reason to detain and separate children from their families, nor is there a reason from detaining undocumented immigrants in unsafe conditions. There needs to be a way to foster a humane immigration system that doesn’t imprison people with no criminal record, and that treats every person with respect. References:
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