The immigration officers parked their vehicles in front of a two-story building, just before dawn. Overhead, a New York subway line rumbled, while the radio crackled with an officer’s voice.
“I believe that’s Tango,” he exclaimed after observing for approximately two hours. He was referring to an individual wearing a gray hoodie and carrying a backpack while walking briskly.
The immigration officers apprehended and restrained a 23-year-old man from Ecuador who had been found guilty of sexually assaulting a minor.
According to Kenneth Genalo, the head of Enforcement and Removal Operations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York, there is a common misconception that officers have the ability to enter a community and apprehend a large number of individuals who are residing in the United States illegally, and subsequently deport them to their respective home countries.
According to Genalo, the approach is known as targeted enforcement. He clarifies that they do not apprehend individuals and immediately transport them to JFK airport to board a plane.
With Donald Trump’s return to the White House, there is a great deal of curiosity surrounding how the Republican leader intends to implement his immigration agenda, particularly his promise of mass deportations. However, it is important to consider the challenges that enforcement and removal agents face on a day-to-day basis. One such unit in New York, which provided The Associated Press with an inside look into its operations, revealed that the number of individuals on their target lists far exceeds the available manpower to carry out these tasks.
The Biden administration has recently revised its deportation priorities to focus on individuals who pose a threat to public safety and those who have recently crossed the border. Tom Homan, the incoming “border czar” appointed by Trump, has stated that the new administration will also prioritize individuals who are considered criminals or pose a risk before addressing immigrants who have been ordered by the courts to be removed from the United States.
Homan, in recent remarks on Dr. Phil’s Merit TV, has made it clear that enforcement measures may extend beyond specific cases. He stated, “If you’re in the country illegally, you will face consequences.”
It’s not an easy task.
Deportation orders outnumber the available staff
There are approximately 1.4 million individuals who have received final orders of removal, while another 660,000 individuals who are either convicted of crimes or facing charges are under immigration supervision. However, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency only has 6,000 officers responsible for monitoring noncitizens in the country and identifying and removing those who are not eligible to remain here.
The staffing numbers have stayed the same while their caseload has increased fourfold over the past ten years, reaching 7.6 million. In the previous year, approximately 10% of the workforce was temporarily reassigned to the U.S.-Mexico border during periods of heightened immigration activity.
Jason Houser, who served as ICE chief of staff in the early days of the Biden administration, pointed out the inherent contradiction between the need for a significant number of officers to address public safety threats and the objective of deporting a large number of individuals.
According to Houser, it would be impossible to achieve both goals given the limited resources and deportation officers available. He emphasized that the time and effort required for such arrests would simply overwhelm any attempt to reach the desired large-scale numbers.
According to Genalo, the officers responsible for each case must first obtain a lead and ensure they have the necessary legal authority to make an arrest. Subsequently, they embark on tracking down the individual in question. Typically, these officers are not permitted to enter a residence, so they prefer to apprehend individuals when they are outside.
How immigration removals are conducted in the field
In the early hours of the morning, a group of approximately twelve officers gathered at a White Castle parking lot in the Bronx. They prepared for their operation by donning body armor and checking their equipment. Before commencing their mission, they huddled together for a briefing.
In addition to the 23-year-old Ecuadorian man, authorities were pursuing a 36-year-old Mexican man who was found guilty of forcibly touching a young girl. They were also targeting another Ecuadorian individual who had been convicted of sexually abusing a minor.
The 23-year-old man, who admitted to raping a 14-year-old girl, was typically seen leaving the apartment building around 7 a.m. or 7:30 a.m. On occasions, he would be accompanied by a woman and a child.
“An officer waiting outside reported over the radio that a light had turned on in the first floor of the apartment. Later, they mentioned that someone had emerged from the basement, but it was not the person they were targeting.”
They eventually caught sight of him, swiftly ushered him into the back of a vehicle, and promptly departed the neighborhood.
The man’s 22-year-old wife remained oblivious to the situation inside until he contacted her from detention.
During an interview, she mentioned that they crossed paths in Ecuador and eventually became parents to a delightful 3-year-old girl with charming braids. At the time, she was also expecting their second child while he was occupied with his construction job, while she worked as a manicurist.
The woman expressed that she understood the reason behind her husband’s arrest but believed that there were significant factors that should be taken into consideration. She acknowledged the possibility of her husband being deported to Ecuador once his criminal case concluded, but it still came as a surprise to her.
According to a recent report by ICE, the agency deported over 270,000 individuals in a span of 12 months, marking the highest annual number in the past decade. However, the agency also noted a decrease in arrests of noncitizens, partly due to the need for staff deployment at the border. Among those who were arrested, a larger percentage had significant criminal backgrounds.
Working in collaboration with local law enforcement agencies, certain cities and states have established partnerships with ICE to facilitate the transfer of individuals in their custody who are not U.S. citizens.
Many states and cities with left-leaning ideologies have implemented sanctuary policies, which aim to limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. A notable example is New York City, where ICE used to have an office at the local jail for the purpose of easily taking custody of noncitizens. However, in 2014, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio signed legislation that removed ICE from the premises and imposed restrictions on police cooperation.
Eric Adams, the successor of the previous official, has expressed a willingness to reexamine certain policies. In a recent meeting with Homan, he stated to reporters that they both share a commitment to pursuing individuals who are involved in violent crimes.
According to Genalo, agents dedicate their time and resources to apprehending immigrants who, by general consensus, should not be allowed to remain in the United States.
“How can you claim that sanctuary policies benefit the community when you’re just releasing all these criminals back into the community?” he questioned. “We are safer when we work together.”
The staffing situation is also a cause for concern. The department is supposed to have approximately 325 officers, but in recent years, the actual number has been about 30% lower.
Immigration advocates have harbored longstanding concerns about ICE’s tactics, and these concerns are growing more pronounced with Trump’s return to office in January.
Advocates argue that the new administration has been following a long-standing policy of targeting public safety threats. They take issue with the rhetoric that portrays immigrants as individuals to be feared. According to them, there can be complexities in certain situations. For instance, an individual may have committed a crime in the distant past and since then, undergone rehabilitation. Additionally, someone who is facing a final order of removal may have relocated and never received the necessary notification.
According to Jehan Laner, a senior staff attorney for the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, there were numerous instances of “collateral arrests” during Trump’s first term. These arrests involved immigration officers detaining individuals beyond their intended targets, which led to a destabilization of communities. Laner emphasizes that the enforcement actions seemed to target everyone rather than focusing on specific individuals.
Genalo emphasized that he is unable to provide any insight into the plans of the incoming administration. However, he did emphasize that law enforcement officers are actively pursuing individuals with criminal backgrounds. He revealed that he currently has a list of approximately 58,000 individuals who either have prior convictions or pending charges.
Genalo expressed his belief that they would be occupied for a considerable amount of time addressing the criminal population.
