Intrusive home searches during work hours, complaints about physical abuse, threats, and unjustified detentions without a search warrant are just some of the abusive practices committed by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), agents during roundups.
The Immigration Justice Clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University stated in its report that under the Bush administration, from 2006 to 2008, violations of the Constitution and American democratic values was a familiar pattern nation wide.
In Nassau County in Long Island, a total of 457 arrests were made during the indicated time period, but immigration agents only received permission to proceed with search warrants for 14 percent of the cases – implying that they conducted unlawful raids in 86 percent of the cases.
Furthermore, only 33 percent of the arrests met the requirements agents were seeking. The other 67 percent were treated as collateral arrests – meaning that people were not being watched or tracked by Immigration.
A similar trend appeared in New Jersey, where out of 600 arrests made during roundups in homes between February 2006 and December 2007, only 37 percent of the detainees were people the agents were looking for.
Moreover, approximately two thirds of individuals arrested in homes were not fugitives on the run. Amongst these unlawful and unsubstantiated immigration arrests a good number of those arrested were Latino immigrants.
Peter L. Markowitz, co-author of the study, pointed out that the findings in the report show that the Bush administration changed the rules of the game in regards to immigration inciting terror in communities.
With respect to the present government, Markowitz said, "We know very little about roundups. We hope this report will help the new administration to do away with violations."
In response to the study, Michael W. Gilhooly, the regional communications director of ICE, said: "ICE agents swear to obey the laws of our nation. We do a professional, humane job and we are well aware of the impact that the weight of the law has on the people we deal with."
He added that ICE prioritizes its efforts with respect to arresting fugitives who have proved to be a danger to national security. "We have a clear order about pursuing all fugitive immigrants."
Nevertheless, Katherine Vargas of the National Immigration Forum asserted that the report only contributes to public worry that ICE has not followed through on its priorities to go after immigrants who commit serious and dangerous crimes, but instead has wasted time trying to comply with the law without focus or adequate supervision.
"We need security measures that are effective, with clear objectives that provide protection for communities. It doesn't matter how many roundups they carry out in homes or workplaces, it will never solve the problem of illegal immigration once and for all," Vargas said.
