The actions carried out by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE, for its initials in English) in the detention and deportation process of thousands of immigrants in the United States have provoked the reaction of new organizations seeking to provide support to these populations.
Such is the case of the organization The Legal Aid Society, a civil organization that provides free legal assistance to low-income individuals, which carried out a brief guide on how ICE operates.
According to this organization, the government agency implements a series of well-established strategies in order to establish search profiles, prioritize immigration interests, and create a timeline for deportation: from detention to execution.
Strategies that ICE uses to detain immigrants
As revealed by The Legal Aid Society, these are the strategies that ICE carries out to detain immigrants based on actions taken by the individuals themselves:
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Checking income at the border
According to the organization operating in New York, Customs and Border Protection officials conduct evaluations or questionnaires of all individuals entering the United States, which also establishes a tracking process in case of irregularities in the person's immigration status. -
Assessing appointments with ICE or another immigration agency
Any immigrant with open processes with ICE or another immigration agency becomes a person of interest to these same agencies. Therefore, The Legal Aid Society recommends attending appointments and being transparent at all times. -
Inspecting criminal backgrounds
Regardless of whether an immigrant is on probation, ICE conducts investigations to determine their whereabouts and act based on their immigration status. -
Examining hearings
If a person has a hearing in the Immigration Court, ICE pays special attention to this person regardless of the stage or timeline of their case. -
Checking air entries to the United States
Similar to what happens with individuals entering by land at border control centers, all migrants returning to the United States after traveling to another country, regardless of whether they are legal permanent residents, become subjects of interest for ICE.
To carry out these review processes, ICE collaborates with local authorities, who, through simple operations, can identify and detain all undocumented individuals.
In this process, the detainees' fingerprints are cross-checked in order to trigger immigration compliance actions.
*This article has been automatically translated using artificial intelligence