The nation watches as left-wing politicians condemn Immigration and Customs Enforcement for conducting lawful immigration enforcement actions, going as far as calling for the abolishment of the entire agency. While half of the ICE mission is conducting immigration enforcement, the other half of ICE works out of the limelight stopping such heinous criminals as human, sex, narcotics, and arms traffickers.
The media focused on the arrest of multi-media star R. Kelly this past week but left out that the principal investigators were ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, partnered with the New York Police Department. The partner agencies arrested R. Kelly on a gambit of charges from sex trafficking to child pornography.
ICE trafficking arrests last week did not stop there, with the assistance of the Topeka Police Department, ICE arrested a professional caddie on aggravated human trafficking and attempted commercial sexual exploitation of a child.
A few weeks ago, ICE worked with its international partners to seize thousands of weapons and explosives. According to ICE, “the international operation resulted in a total of 25 arrests and 53 search warrants executed in three countries. Over the course of the operation, law enforcement seized 5,300 firearms and components, 167 explosives/ordinances and 15 silencers from the transnational criminal organization.”
As an ICE special agent, I conducted a multitude of narcotics smuggling investigations in the San Diego area and beyond. Each week thousands of pounds of narcotics are intercepted by the Department of Homeland Security and investigated by ICE. Agents work around the clock to disrupt and dismantle significant smuggling organizations. A tunnel is discovered on the border; ICE investigates. A boat laden with smuggled human cargo is intercepted by Customs and Border Protection; ICE investigates. A computer is seized with gigabytes of child pornography sent from overseas; ICE investigates.
Without media attention, the general public only recognizes ICE for the “Immigration” enforcement portion of their name. The “Customs” enforcement portion of ICE investigates almost every crime with an international nexus, meaning any illicit goods smuggled into the United States and anything, from illegal arms to bulk cash, that exits the U.S..
Immigration law enforcement will be conducted by U.S. agents no matter what title the agency has, whether it’s ICE, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, or any other title. The agents of ICE are enforcing the letter of the law as passed by Republicans and Democrats. Abolishing the agency will surely provide unfettered access by all means of traffickers.
Jason Piccolo (@DRJasonPiccolo) is a former Border Patrol agent, ICE special agent, and DHS supervisor. He is a U.S. Army veteran (Operation Iraqi Freedom) and author of Unwavering: A Border Agent’s Journey from Hunter to Hunted.
