- Joined
- Apr 18, 2013
- Messages
- 112,838
- Reaction score
- 103,333
- Location
- Barsoom
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Independent
Why Is ICE So Aggressive Now? A Former ICE Chief Explains.
A lengthy interview with attorney John Sandweg, who served as an Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from August 1, 2013 to February 21, 2014.
What’s different is who they’re targeting. Under Obama, under Biden and even to a certain extent, under the first Trump administration, there were priorities. The agents were told, “Focus first on the worst. Worst first. Get the worst bad guys off the street first, we’ll deal with everything else later.” Those rules are gone.
They’ve been under a lot of pressure to ratchet up the number of arrests. They’ve been forced to adopt some of these more aggressive tactics, because the [Trump] administration seems more interested in the quantity of people arrested, more so than the quality. It’s not like we’re seeing those more surgical operations, where you might arrest fewer people, but they have a more serious criminal history. You’re seeing just large numbers of arrested people who have been here a long time, people who have U.S. citizen family members.
This administration has repurposed the way they’ve operationalized ICE — to go out and get as many people as possible, and that’s why we’re seeing these raids on the car washes and on the Home Depot parking lots. They know they can make a large number of arrests there, and they don’t seem to care whether or not those people pose a threat to public safety. They just say, “If you’re undocumented, you’re a fair target.”
When all is said and done, what has changed is the new policies of this Trump administration. "We don't care if you push old ladies to the pavement or zip-tie young children. Instill fear wherever you go and act with unpredictability."
In addition, ICE agents know that they will never be charged with a crime by the Trump Department of Justice. There is absolutely no professional/personal accountability... either to Congress or before a judge.
A lengthy interview with attorney John Sandweg, who served as an Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from August 1, 2013 to February 21, 2014.
What’s different is who they’re targeting. Under Obama, under Biden and even to a certain extent, under the first Trump administration, there were priorities. The agents were told, “Focus first on the worst. Worst first. Get the worst bad guys off the street first, we’ll deal with everything else later.” Those rules are gone.
They’ve been under a lot of pressure to ratchet up the number of arrests. They’ve been forced to adopt some of these more aggressive tactics, because the [Trump] administration seems more interested in the quantity of people arrested, more so than the quality. It’s not like we’re seeing those more surgical operations, where you might arrest fewer people, but they have a more serious criminal history. You’re seeing just large numbers of arrested people who have been here a long time, people who have U.S. citizen family members.
This administration has repurposed the way they’ve operationalized ICE — to go out and get as many people as possible, and that’s why we’re seeing these raids on the car washes and on the Home Depot parking lots. They know they can make a large number of arrests there, and they don’t seem to care whether or not those people pose a threat to public safety. They just say, “If you’re undocumented, you’re a fair target.”
When all is said and done, what has changed is the new policies of this Trump administration. "We don't care if you push old ladies to the pavement or zip-tie young children. Instill fear wherever you go and act with unpredictability."
In addition, ICE agents know that they will never be charged with a crime by the Trump Department of Justice. There is absolutely no professional/personal accountability... either to Congress or before a judge.
Last edited:
