ICE Agents Deployed Abroad Increase 16% from 2020–2022 to Nearly 200
pa href=https://www.cato.org/people/david-j-bier hreflang=undDavid J. Bier/a
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pImmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has increased the number of agents deployed in foreign countries by 16 percent from 2020 to 2022, according to new data obtained by the Cato Institute via a Freedom of Information Act request. The number of foreign deployments rose from 169 in 2020 to 196 in 2021. This increase comes after a a href=https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/DHS%20Run%20Amok%20-%20SFRC%20Democratic%20Staff%20Report.pdf2020 Senate investigation/a finding that agents with ICE’s sister immigration enforcement agency, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in Guatemala misused State Department funds to help the Guatemalan government deport Hondurans./p
pFigure 1 shows the number of agents detailed to another country by fiscal year. ICE has said that earlier data were unavailable because of an internal reorganization of the agency in 2019./p
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/ppWe don’t know what all these agents are doing, but ICE agents have been helping the DEA’s drug war in Mexico for many years, which got one of them a href=https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/2-cartel-members-sentenced-life-prison-terms-slaying-ice-special-agent-jaime-zapatakilled/a, and in 2022, ICE revealed that it is a href=https://www.foxnews.com/us/ice-guatemala-human-smugglers-19-murdersworking/a in Guatemala to identify and arrest people—who it labels “smugglers”—who help immigrants leave or transit the country. WOLA’s Adam Isacson has a href=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/14/us-immigration-agents-detained-migrants-in-guatemala-reporta list/a of other various activities of ICE and DHS in Guatemala, including training its corrupt police force and acting as deportation liaison to help facilitate more deportations from the United States to Guatemala./p
pIn 2020, it was revealed that CBP, ICE’s sister immigration enforcement agency, helped foreign governments interdict and deport people trying to reach the United States. It often goes further than merely helping. As the Senate report a href=https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/DHS%20Run%20Amok%20-%20SFRC%20Democratic%20Staff%20Report.pdffound/a:/p
blockquotepIn January 2020, Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) Democratic Staff uncovered a disturbing incident in which DHS [the Department of Homeland Security] misused State Department funding to carry out an unauthorized operation. Specifically, CBP personnel in Guatemala transported an unidentified number of Honduran migrants in unmarked vans to relocate them to the Guatemala‐Honduras border. DHS informed SFRC Democratic Staff that DHS personnel used the vans to transport migrant women and children, but was unable to clarify whether any family members had been separated during the operation or whether there was any process to reunify any family members that may have been separated. Moreover, the DHS operation to transport Honduran migrants was conducted in an improvised manner without any protocols in place to address security considerations or ensure the personal safety and human rights.…/p
pthe DHS operation exposed the U.S. Government to possible complicity in any potential violation of the principle of non‐refoulement enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, as well as the 1984 Convention Against Torture, which both Guatemala and the United States are required to uphold./p
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pThe Biden administration has said it is working on addressing the root causes of emigration, but it has been more successful and diligent about getting foreign governments to a href=https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/07/05/mexico/central-america-new-visa-restrictions-harm-venezuelanschange /atheir a href=https://www.fragomen.com/insights/mexico-new-pre-registration-clearance-process-implemented-for-colombian-entrants.htmlown immigration/a a href=https://www.fragomen.com/insights/mexico-brazilian-nationals-no-longer-eligible-for-visitor-e-visas.html#:~:text=Effective%20August%2018%2C%202022%2C%20Brazilian,a%20consular%20Visitor%20Visa%20instead.policies /aand enforcement practices to match the U.S. goal of squashing immigration./p