No One is Made Safer By Defunding ICE

Bashing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was a popular pastime enjoyed by many of the 2020 Democratic candidates running for president and has been lumped into attempts to defund or demolish many forms of law enforcement by many on the far left. But what exactly would it mean if we defunded ICE and starved it of resources to the point where it couldn’t perform its duties?

In general, ICE oversees the enforcement of immigration laws within the interior of the U.S. Without ICE, once criminal or illegal aliens successfully snuck past the Border Patrol — or overstayed their visas which in most years surpasses those entering illegally over the border — they’d be home free. ICE also has a major role outside of immigration enforcement. It is charged with busting up child smuggling rings, detecting and ending narcotics smuggling, busting aliens who are involved in child molesting and helping to recover stolen foreign artifacts, just to name a few.

In the last few weeks, here are just a few of the many law enforcement successes touted by the courageous men and women of ICE:   

Halting Child Pornography, August 24, 2020: Steven Lee McBride, a registered Australian sex offender who is currently jailed has pled guilty to the production of child pornography. McBride was busted by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). He faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years.  

Arresting Dangerous Criminal Aliens in New York City, September 1, 2020:  In New York, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested 83 individuals from 25 countries. Eighteen of the individuals arrested had been previously been removed or deported from the U.S., and three of the individuals arrested were foreign fugitives. The criminal histories of individuals arrested included an assortment of charges, including child abuse, harassment, sexual and aggravated assault, trespassing, weapons violations, robbery, drug charges, and driving while intoxicated.

Apprehending Aliens Committing Voter Fraud in North Carolina, September 3, 2020: Nineteen foreign nationals face federal charges in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina for illegally voting in the 2016 federal elections. A federal grand jury in Wilmington charged seven foreign nationals on with federal felony charges including falsely claiming U.S. citizenship or making false statements on voter registration application, and with misdemeanor charges of unlawfully casting ballots in the 2016 presidential election.

Targeting 125 Criminal Illegal Aliens in Texas ,September 1, 2020. Texas ICE officers arrested 125 at-large individuals in central and south Texas who were living illegally in the U.S., or who were removable from the U.S. due to their criminal histories. About 85 percent of those arrested by ICE on immigration charges also had criminal convictions (some multiple) or pending criminal charges.   Those crimes included assault, domestic violence, rape, homicide, DUI, drug trafficking, and smuggling aliens.

Those who promise to take a wrecking ball to ICE need to inform the American public that their plan would free dangerous criminal aliens who target all segments of society while allowing those who overstay their visas or crash the borders to take American jobs.