Latest news with #ImmigrationAndCustomsEnforcement
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
ICE Insists That Congress Needs Its Permission To Conduct Oversight
This week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released new guidance on "facility visit and engagement protocol for Members of Congress and staff." "ICE detention locations and Field Offices are secure facilities. As such, all visitors are required to comply with [identity] verification and security screening requirements prior to entry," it specified. "When planning to visit an ICE facility, ICE asks requests to be submitted at least 72 hours in advance." Incidentally, it's perfectly legal for members of Congress to visit ICE detention facilities, even unannounced. And ICE's attempt to circumvent that requirement threatens the constitutional system of checks and balances. The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024, which funded the government through September 2024, specified that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may not "prevent…a Member of Congress" or one of their employees "from entering, for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens" or to modify the facility in advance of such a visit. It also clarified that the DHS cannot "require a Member of Congress to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility." ICE's new guidance tries to get around this by stipulating that "ICE Field Offices are not detention facilities and fall outside of the [law's] requirements." Nevertheless, it adds that "while Member[s] of Congress are not required to provide advance notice for visits to ICE detention facilities, ICE requires a minimum of 24-hours' notice for visits by congressional staff" (emphasis in the original). Further, "visit request[s] are not considered actionable until receipt of the request is acknowledged" by ICE. The new rules also stipulate that visiting members of Congress may not bring in cellphones or recording devices, they must be escorted by ICE staff at all times, and they may not "have any physical or verbal contact with any person in ICE detention facilities unless previously requested and specifically approved by ICE Headquarters." In recent weeks, Democratic lawmakers have tried to enter ICE facilities, only to be turned away or threatened with imprisonment. Last week, authorities charged Rep. LaMonica McIver (D–N.J.) with three felony counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding federal officers. McIver and other lawmakers visited Delaney Hall Federal Immigration Facility in Newark last month. A scuffle apparently ensued when authorities arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka for trespassing, though those charges were later dropped. This week, four members of Congress who visited the ICE Processing Center in Broadview, Illinois, were apparently denied access when they arrived. "We have reports that immigrants are being detained here without access to their attorneys, sleeping on the floor and without food," Rep. Chuy Garcia (D–Ill.), one of the members in attendance, alleged in a post on X. The DHS replied from its official account, "Congressman, all members and staff need to comply with facility rules, procedures, and instructions from ICE personnel on site." On Wednesday, Reps. Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman (D–N.Y.) visited an office in Manhattan where migrants were allegedly being kept, only to be denied entry by Bill Joyce, the deputy director of the field office. Joyce denied it was a detention facility, saying that even though migrants were being kept on-site, ICE was simply "housing them until they can be detained." In video captured at the scene in Manhattan, Goldman said he and Nadler had requested permission to visit—even though they "have the authority to show up unannounced"—but were denied. This isn't uncharacteristic of the agency: Earlier this year, ICE agents denied Reason's C.J. Ciaramella access to an immigration court at a federal detention facility in Miami, in defiance of both federal law and guidance listed on the agency's own website. (ICE later admitted the facility was "open daily to the public.") Regardless of the actual conditions of any ICE facility, it's clear Congress' intent was to establish its legislative oversight role over an executive agency. Checks and balances are a key feature of American government: Each of the three branches has the power to keep the others in check. For ICE to claim an all-encompassing right to operate in the dark, apart from the prying eyes of even a co-equal branch of government, flies in the face of the Constitution's clear meaning. "This unlawful policy is a smokescreen to deny Member visits to ICE offices across the country, which are holding migrants – and sometimes even U.S. citizens – for days at a time. They are therefore detention facilities and are subject to oversight and inspection at any time," Rep. Bennie Thompson (D–Miss.), the ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement. "There is no valid or legal reason for denying Member access to ICE facilities and DHS's ever-changing justifications prove this….If ICE has nothing to hide, DHS must make its facilities available." The post ICE Insists That Congress Needs Its Permission To Conduct Oversight appeared first on
Miami Herald
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Do Americans support or oppose ICE? Here's what a poll found amid LA protests
Public opinion is hotly divided over Immigration And Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency responsible for handling deportations, according to new polling. In the latest YouGov/Economist poll, roughly equal shares of respondents expressed support for and opposition to ICE. And, while there is little appetite for abolishing the agency, most respondents think ICE agents should be required to adhere to certain practices. Here is a breakdown of the results from the poll, which comes after anti-ICE protests erupted in Los Angeles, California, leading President Donald Trump to deploy National Guard troops to the area. Favorability of ICE In the poll — which sampled 1,533 U.S. adults June 6 to 9 — a slim plurality of respondents, 45%, said they held a favorable view of ICE. Meanwhile, 43% said they had an unfavorable view. On this question, there was a yawning partisan divide, with 81% of Republicans holding a positive view and 79% of Democrats holding a negative view. Independents were about evenly split — 41% unfavorable vs. 40% favorable. Abolishing ICE? Despite this fierce divide, a sizable plurality of respondents, 45%, said they oppose abolishing ICE and replacing it with a different agency. Less than a third of respondents, 27%, said they would favor shutting down ICE. But, again, there were significant differences based on partisanship. Most Republicans, 69%, said they oppose abolishing ICE, while a plurality of Republicans, 47%, said they are in favor of this idea. A plurality of independents, 39%, oppose this. Uniforms and masks By and large, Americans favor requiring ICE agents to clearly identify themselves and refrain from hiding their identities, according to the poll, which has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. More than two-thirds of respondents, 68%, said ICE officers should be required to wear uniforms when conducting operations. Just 18% opposed this. Further, a plurality of respondents, 47%, opposed allowing ICE officers to wear masks to conceal their identities during arrests. Thirty-nine percent said this should be allowed. In recent weeks, ICE agents have been documented carrying out operations in plain clothes and equipped with masks, according to the Houston Chronicle and Reuters. Anti-ICE protests A separate YouGov poll — conducted on June 9 with 4,231 U.S. adults — asked respondents about the anti-ICE protests that sprang up in Los Angeles during the first weekend of June, resulting in more than 50 arrests. Following the outbreak of demonstrations, Trump dispatched around 2,000 National Guard troops to the area. 'If I didn't 'SEND IN THE TROOPS' to Los Angeles the last three nights, that once beautiful and great City would be burning to the ground right now,' the president wrote on Truth Social on June 10. Trump also threatened to arrest California Gov. Gavin Newsom for obstructing the federal government's immigration enforcement policies. Newsom responded by suing the Trump administration, arguing that the president has illegally federalized the California National Guard. 'This is a manufactured crisis,' Newsom wrote on X. '(Trump) is creating fear and terror to take over a state militia and violate the U.S. constitution.' In the poll, a plurality of respondents, 45%, said they disapprove of the anti-ICE protests, while 36% said they approve of them. Most Republicans, 73%, and a plurality of independents, 41%, oppose them, while most Democrats, 58%, are in favor. That said, most respondents, 56%, believe state and local authorities should take the lead in responding to the protests. Just 25% said the federal government should organize the response. Most Democrats and independents — 72% and 56%, respectively — favor a state- and local-led response, while a plurality of Republicans, 46%, want the Trump administration to spearhead the response. Further, respondents were about evenly divided when it came to the nature of the Los Angeles protests, according to the poll, which has a margin of error of 2 percentage points. A slim plurality, 38%, said they are mostly peaceful, while 36% said they are mostly violent. Most Democrats, 64%, labeled the protests as mostly peaceful, while most Republicans, 66%, described them as mostly violent. Independents were about evenly split — 35% mostly peaceful vs. 33% mostly violent.
The Independent
22-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Federal judge blocks immigration authorities from revoking international students' legal status
A judge in California blocked the Trump administration Thursday from terminating the legal status of international students nationwide while a court case challenging previous terminations is pending. The order by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White in Oakland bars the government from arresting, incarcerating or moving students elsewhere based on their legal status until the case is resolved. Students could still be arrested for other reasons and their legal status can still be revoked if they are convicted of a violent crime carrying a prison term of more than a year. Most courts hearing these types of cases have granted protections to the person suing, but White said the government's actions 'wreaked havoc" not only on the lives of plaintiffs but other nonimmigrants in the U.S. on student visas. White, who was nominated by President George W. Bush, a Republican, issued the nationwide injunction sought by attorneys for about two dozen students who sued after their legal status was abruptly terminated in early April by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. More than 4,700 international students had their permission to study in the U.S. canceled this spring, with little notice or explanation, as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigrants and foreign nationals. In court hearings, Department of Homeland Security officials said they ran the names of student visa holders through an FBI-run database that contains the names of suspects and people who have been arrested, even if the charges were dropped or they were never charged with a crime. Some students left the U.S. rather than risk being deported to a third country. Government lawyers say the administration is exercising its prerogative to administer the Immigration and Nationality Act. They say students do not need the court's protections because ICE reinstated legal status and was mailing status reactivation letters to affected students. But White found those actions insufficient. He said that the erroneous revocation remained in the students' record, impacting their ability to obtain a new visa or change their nonimmigrant status. Some students are still dealing with fallout from the previous terminations and there is no guarantee they won't have their legal status revoked again on a whim. He also chastised the administration for unveiling new policies or new actions in an apparent attempt to satisfy the courts' concerns. 'It is unclear how this game of whack-a-mole will end unless Defendants are enjoined from skirting their own mandatory regulations,' White wrote. A survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs research found that even the visa revocations for students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests are more unpopular than popular. About half of U.S. adults oppose this policy, and only 3 in 10 are in support. Among college educated adults, 6 in 10 strongly oppose, compared with 4 in 10 who aren't college graduates.
