Why ICE’s Role in Immigration Enforcement Needs to be Re-Examined

This presentation investigates how Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) helps or does not help the United States live up to international standards of how countries should enforce immigration policies. This presentation argues that ICE ultimately does not aid the United States in establishing more humane and fair immigration policies. Furthermore, ICE’s actions are often detrimental to the goal of treating immigrants, whether they are documented or undocumented, according to international standards established in the United Nation compact on migration. The compact details multiple goals that signatories have pledged to work towards regarding the fair and humane treatment of migrants. This argument is based upon reporting and detailing various ICE controversies. Many of the primary sources focus not only on these controversies, but also the lack of accountability ICE faces even after the bureau’s questionable actions become public knowledge. The secondary sources utilized for this presentation examine ICE’s actions in a larger scope. Most focus on one particular area that ICE can improve, including eroding political trust in minority communities, over-criminalizing immigration, and employing potentially illegal tactics in tandem with local law enforcement. Many of ICE’s controversial decisions and policies seemingly get swept under the rug as the bureau is routinely praised by public officials, especially during the Trump presidency. This paper ultimately aims to prove that when one closely examines ICE policy and its ripple effects, heaping praise on ICE as an effective immigration enforcement mechanism becomes much more difficult.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2021/1102/thumbnail.jp