The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threaten national security and public safety.
CoreCivic, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA),is a company that owns and manages private prisons and detention centers and operates others on a concession basis. Co-founded in 1983 in Nashville,Tennessee by Thomas W. Beasley,Robert Crants,and T. Don Hutto,it received investments from the Tennessee Valley Authority,Vanderbilt University,and Jack C. Massey,the founder of Hospital Corporation of America.
Julie Lyn Myers Wood is an American prosecutor and former government official. She was the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She assumed the job following a recess appointment by President George W. Bush on January 4,2006. Previously,Myers worked for the Office of Independent Counsel under Kenneth Starr and was a lead prosecutor in the Independent Counsel's failed case against Susan McDougal. She is currently CEO of Guidepost Solutions,LLC,a leading investigative and compliance consulting firm.
Kenneth Thomas Cuccinelli II is an American lawyer and politician who served as the senior official performing the duties of the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party,he also served as the Principal Deputy and Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and was Attorney General of Virginia from 2010 to 2014.
The T. Don Hutto Residential Center is a guarded,fenced-in,multi-purpose center currently used to detain non-US citizens awaiting the outcome of their immigration status. The center is located at 1001 Welch Street in the city of Taylor,Texas,within Williamson County. Formerly a medium-security state prison,it is operated by the CoreCivic under contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency through an ICE Intergovernmental Service Agreement (IGA) with Williamson County,Texas. In 2006,Hutto became an immigrant-detention facility detaining immigrant families. The facility was turned into a women's detention center in 2009.
Operation Endgame was a 2003–2012 plan under implementation by the Office of Detention and Removal Operations of the United States Department of Homeland Security Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain and deport all removable aliens and "suspected terrorists" currently living in the United States by 2012.
Northwest Detention Center is a privately-run detention center located on the tide flats of the Port of Tacoma in Tacoma,Washington,USA. The detention center is operated by the GEO Group on behalf of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The NWDC's current capacity is 1575,making it one of the largest detention centers in the United States. Numerous hunger strikes have been launched by inmates of the NWDC to protest the Center's poor conditions. Detainees have repeatedly reported overcrowding,a lack of medical attention,and severely unsanitary conditions,especially during COVID-19:"they're not even offering us soap."
The United States government holds tens of thousands of immigrants in detention under the control of Customs and Border Protection and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Immigrants are detained for unlawful entry to the United States,when their claims for asylum are received,and in the process of deportation and removal from the country. During Fiscal Year 2018,396,448 people were booked into ICE custody:242,778 of whom were detained by CBP and 153,670 by ICE's own enforcement operations. A daily average of 42,188 immigrants were held by ICE in that year. In addition,over twelve thousand immigrant children are housed by facilities under the supervision of the Office of Refugee Resettlement's program for Unaccompanied Alien Children. Prior to referral to these other agencies,the CBP holds immigrants at processing centers;between mid-May and mid-June 2019,it held between 14,000 and 18,000 immigrants.
Secure Communities is a data-sharing program that relies on coordination between federal,state,and local law enforcement agencies. The program was designed to "check the immigration status of every single person arrested by local police anywhere in the country". As part of the program,fingerprints that are taken upon arrest,which are traditionally forwarded to the FBI,are then also forwarded to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). If these finger prints match the DHS's Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT),then the ICE district office decides whether or not to issue a detainer request which can include requesting that the person be detained for up to 48 hours (I-247D),or a request for ICE to be notified upon their release (I-247N).
The 2006 Swift raids were a coordinated effort by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain and deport people who are present illegally.
Deportation and removal from the United States occurs when the U.S. government orders a person to leave the country. In fiscal year 2014,Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted 315,943 removals. Criteria for deportations are set out in 8 U.S.C. § 1227.
The Priority Enforcement Program is a program by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),the agency responsible for immigration enforcement in the interior of the United States,under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). PEP was an ICE program that worked with state and local law enforcement to identify illegal aliens who come in contact with state or local law enforcement,and remove those who are removable. PEP was announced by DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson in a November 20,2014 memo as a replacement for Secure Communities (S-COMM). It builds on an updated list of immigration enforcement priorities released in another memo by Johnson issued on the same day.
Sarah Ruth Saldana is an American attorney who served as the fourth director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from December 23,2014,until January 20,2017,under President Barack Obama. She was the first Latina and the second woman to hold the position of ICE director. Previously she had served as Assistant U.S. Attorney,then U.S. Attorney,for the Northern District of Texas.
James A. "Jim" Dinkins is an American law enforcement officer and business executive who served as the first head of Homeland Security Investigations for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from 2010 to 2014. He is a senior vice president and director of operations of Enterprise Financial Crimes Compliance for U.S. Bancorp.
Family detention is the detention of multiple family members together in an immigration detention context. In the U.S. they are referred to as family detention camps,family detention centers, or family detention facilities.
The COVID-19 pandemic in U.S. immigration detention has been covered extensively since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. More than 38,000 people were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the time of the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States. ICE's response to the outbreak in detention facilities has been widely characterized as substandard and dangerous. Harmful practices have been reported in numerous facilities managed by third-party private contractors with ICE. For example,reports found that HDQ Neutral disinfectant was used over 50 times per day in un-ventilated areas,which caused pain,bleeding,and severe illness to numerous people held in Adelanto Detention Center,a private prison managed by GEO Group Inc.
Tuong Tony Huu Pham is an American attorney who served as an Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from August 25,2020 to December 31,2020. A Vietnamese refugee,Pham emigrated from Saigon to the United States with his family in 1975,gaining citizenship in 1985. He graduated from William &Mary Law School in 1995 and from University of Richmond School of Law in 1999,becoming a prosecutor and earning awards from the Old Dominion Bar Association and Style Weekly.
John R. Sandweg is an American attorney who served as an acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from August 1,2013 to February 21,2014. He is a partner of Nixon Peabody leading the Cross-Border Risks team.
Ed Gonzalez is an American law enforcement officer and has served as the 30th sheriff of Harris County,Texas since January 2017. Gonzalez was the nominee for director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement until he withdrew the nomination in June 2022.
