Recently, The Nation ran a piece calling for the abolishment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). According to the left-leaning publication, “A mass-deportation strike force is incompatible with democracy and human rights.” And the harebrained idea instantly gained traction among the luminaries of the Democratic Party.
Of course, there are a few serious problems with The Nation’s indecent proposal:
- ICE isn’t a “mass deportation strike force”; that’s hyperbolic nonsense. In actuality, it’s a federal agency responsible for preventing terrorism and combating the illegal movement of people and goods. It’s mission overlaps significantly with that of the FBI, DEA and U.S. Marshals. There’s nothing particularly sinister about ICE.
- Far from being incompatible with democracy, ICE’s Document and Benefit Fraud Task Forces actually help to ensure the integrity of the democratic process by targeting people who use using fake driver’s licenses, birth certificates, Social Security cards, and passports to illegally obtain benefits in the United States.
- No country in the world recognizes a “human right” to cross the borders of another nation without authorization. As the Supreme Court of the United States has repeatedly observed, every sovereign nation has the power to forbid the entry of foreigners and to prescribe the conditions under which foreign nationals may be admitted.
- The Supreme Court has also repeatedly held that deportation is the “appropriate and lawful means” of returning those unlawfully present in the U.S. to their own countries.
So, what would happen if ICE were shut down? Let’s take a look at what ICE accomplishes in an average day:
- Arrests more than 400 immigration violators and puts them in removal proceedings.
- Manages 1.71 million aliens in various stages of removal proceedings.
- Physically removes anywhere from 600 to 1,200 illegal aliens from the United States.
- Makes 90 criminal arrests, pursuant to the 400 federal statutes it enforces.
- Removes 14 gang members from American streets.
- Makes 32 narcotics enforcement arrests.
- Seizes hundreds of pounds of illegal drugs.
- Opens two new terrorism investigations.
The numbers make it pretty clear that anyone who cares about the safety and security of the United States would never suggest abolishing ICE. It looks like Democrats are more interested in protecting the non-existent “rights” of illegal aliens than looking out for every-day Americans.