HoltesThoughts: What are ICE's plans for their GULAG?

ICE is very enthusiastically,: making sweeps of US Citizens, arresting detainees, [In Arizona]; and denying it. [Fox reports reports are false]

Yet the press releases tell reporters:

“Reports of ICE checkpoints and sweeps or “roundups” are false, dangerous and irresponsible,” the agency said in the first of several tweets.

Worse, they are saying the "reports" are irresponsible. So when a reporter sees a round-up going on Ice claims:

"Any groups falsely reporting such activities are doing a disservice to those they claim to support."
— ICE (@ICEgov) February 16, 2017

So I guess we'll see laws saying reporting on roundups are illegal next. ICE seems to be threatening the family members of the people they are rounding up for complaining about the roundups.

But what are they planning?

This is a follow up to:

http://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2017/02/a-united-states-gulag-trumps-wall.html#more

ICE states its priorities as:

Preventing Terrorism and enhancing security;
Securing and managing our borders;
Enforcing and administering our immigration laws; and
Safeguarding and securing cyberspace.

These priorities are the same as they've been for years. What has changed, since Trump's election is that they no longer are worried about niceties like prioritizing law enforcement or protecting Dreamers. And I'll be watching this page because odds a new version of this document will be there in a year or so.

One of their previous objectives was "OBJECTIVE F:"

Enhance Efficiency in the Removal Process ICE will focus on increasing efficiency in every step of the removal process – from apprehension through removal. To ensure efficiency, ICE will seek travel documents and country clearances with the goal of repatriating aliens to their home countries within 30 days after the removal order. ICE will explore the increased use of the Institutional Removal Program so aliens coming out of criminal custody have already completed removal proceedings. ICE will consider innovative ways to improve the removal of aliens not detained during proceedings.

I get the impression that Trump is planning to simply detain more aliens and remove them, eventually once in detention. I suspect they will keep this part of the next paragraph:

" ICE will strive to reduce removal costs and identify more efficient ways to transport aliens within and from the United States."

If they are to ramp up to the 10,000 a day they need in order to meet Trump's draconian promises, they will need to use more efficient methods to deport people. Or they can pretend to deport people and simply kill them the way the Germans did.

Trump's Immigration Plans

Cato reported on Trump's three immigration Executive orders, breaking out the instructions, but their focus was on legal details and things that offend movement conservatives who aren't "all in" [yet] on Trump's fascism. So I had to read the three executive orders (poor me, links at end):

Order for the "Trump's Wall", which will be needed to keep US citizens in the country.
+ 5000 additional agents, which will bring the ICE strength to 25,000.

Guilty til Cleared

No more of this "catch and release" strategy by ICE. He fully intends to detain first, and release only if forced to. Trump used bureaucratic language but he says:

"Tens of thousands of removable aliens have been released into communities across the country, solely because their home countries refuse to accept their repatriation. Many of these aliens are criminals who have served time in our Federal, State, and local jails. The presence of such individuals in the United States, and the practices of foreign nations that refuse the repatriation of their nationals, are contrary to the national interest."

Trump defames 99% of immigrants in this statement. Many immigrants are released after hearings, not only because home countries refuse their deportation, but usually because they have family, loved ones, employers and others who depend on them or want their company. I've had relatives run afoul of immigration rules. We sent them home early so they wouldn't have trouble coming back in the future. One of those relatives now has a green card and is working in Manhattan. If he had violated immigration law, he wouldn't be able to do that. But he came close to doing so due to technicalities and our poor quality immigration laws and rules. The old system was humane, if sometimes abused.

But what Trump's executive order is telling ICE is that, releasing people with a case in Immigration enforcement will no longer be the case. He's ordering a "guilty until cleared" approach. This will break up families and cause suffering. It also requires building huge detention facilities. And indeed the implementation memo states that detainees may only be released from custody on the following conditions:

When removing the alien from the United States pursuant to statute or regulation;
When the alien obtains a final order granting relief from removal;
When an ICE Field Office Director. CBP Sector Chie£ Pr CBP Director of Field Operations consents to the alien's withdrawal of an application for admission, and the alien departs from the United States;
When an ICE Field Office Director, CBP Sector Chief, or CBP Director of Field Operations directs the return of the alien to a foreign territory contiguous to the United States pending the outcome of a removal proceeding under section 240 of the INA;
When required to do so by statute. or to comply with a judicial order; or
When an ICE Field Office Director, CBP Sector Chief, or CBP Director of Field Operations consents to the alien's parole pursuant to section 212(d)(5) of the INA. and obtains the written concurrence of the Deputy Director of ICE and the Deputy Commissioner of CBP for the exercise of parole.

i.e. "Guilty til cleared

Building the Gulag

Trump ordered Homeland Security to:/p>

"allocate all legally available resources to immediately construct, operate, control, or establish contracts to construct, operate, or control facilities to detain aliens at or near the land border with Mexico."

CATO complains in a namby pamby way that:

"The executive order does not specify the source of funding for the construction of detention facilities, which can cost tens of millions of dollars, money which will go to private detention companies." [Cato]

The problem is not with the corruption of Trump sending money to companies he probably has interest in. The problem is that he's constructing a GULAG along the border where detainees, including non-Mexican ones, will be housed until he figures out how to get them out of the country.

Trump gave orders that ICE:

cooperate fully with States and local law enforcement in enacting Federal-State partnerships to enforce Federal immigration priorities, as well as State monitoring and detention programs that are consistent with Federal law and do not undermine Federal immigration priorities.

Which is necessary if 25,000 ICE agents are going to deport the 10,000 people they need to deport each day. 25,000 agents can be leveraged 100% if they have the resources they need and most of the work is done by local sheriff and Police departments. If each agent can do the paperwork to deport 3 or four a day, the work will go much faster.

Cato also rightly notes that plans for expedited removal and denial of refugee status to folks coming from nations that are tyrannical, having civil wars or in conflict, also threaten to cause people to be detained who ought to be given refugee status and people to die who are deported back to murderous homes.

"expedited removal is often applied incorrectly by enforcement personnel and that asylum-seekers are not allowed to adequately communicate their fear in such situations or, even if they do express fear, are simply denied a credible fear interview, leading to their return and peril. The training of DHS personnel on child provisions is needed, but should be conducted by child welfare experts, who also should assist border patrol in making those determinations. Assessments should be made of all children, including Mexican children."

Cato summarizes some of the nastiest parts of Trump's executive orders here:

"terminates the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP), instituted by the Obama Administration, and re-institutes the Secure Communities program, which would require local jurisdictions to issue “detainers” on unauthorized immigrants in their custody."

Implementation Memorandum

As I write this, someone leaked that Trump is planning to use the National Guard to help with the round ups and deportations. Given that the the Administration has decided to keep it's efforts secret, this fits in the narrative established with his executive orders. Once again they are upset that the report was leaked, deny the contents, but we see that that is an official lie. Someone simply leaked the Implementation Memorandum that puts Trump's Executive Order into operation:

And the memorandum includes an entire section on:

Expansion of the 287(g) Program to Include State Guard Units in the Border Region

Which explicitly is expanding operations to include the National Guard Units in border region states.

"Additionally, I am directing the Commissioner of CBP and the Director of ICE to immediately engage with the Governors of the States adjacent to the land border with Mexico and those States adjoining such border States for the purpose of entering into agreements under section 287(g) of the INA to authorize qualified members of the State National Guard, while such members are not in federal service, or qualified members of a state militia or state defense force under the command of the Governor, to perform the functions of an immigration officer in relation to the investigation, apprehension, and detention of aliens in the United States."

Pretty explicit

Trump has declared war on the immigrant community and along with that, he's declared war on transparency and rule of law.

The irony is that he will not be able to deport all the undocumented aliens in this country without deporting citizens and causing massive death and misery. I don't think he and his flying monkeys in ICE and around the country care.

HoltesThoughts

Friday, February 17, 2017

What are ICE's plans for their GULAG?

But what are they planning?

Trump's Immigration Plans

Guilty til Cleared

Building the Gulag

Implementation Memorandum

Expansion of the 287(g) Program to Include State Guard Units in the Border Region

Further reading

Sources

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