Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Obama Presidency Oral History

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John Morton

...Morton Mr. Morton served as director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] from 2009 to 2013. Prior to that...
...Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ ICE ] from 2009 to 2013. Prior to that, h...
...you were going to be tapped to head up ICE ? That's a very funny story, and no...
...the Obama administration, because the ICE job was important, both in real term...
...to be the assistant secretary for ICE . It's a hard job. To get throug...

...There's a long history with that. ICE is no exception. The FBI, DEA [Dru...
...subcommittees that had an interest in ICE . So you go around. You meet people...
...What was your philosophy for ICE going in? As a prosecutor, I alway...
...curious: Given your philosophy about ICE , what were your priorities when yo...
...as well. But people tended to think of ICE as the dominant agency. At any rate, ...
...of the part of the first initial of ICE , that is, I for immigration. I assum...
...entire time that I was the director of ICE —where the Senate Appropriation...
...exercises of civil-detention authority. ICE had a small number of facilities tha...
...seriously, starting with healthcare. ICE had had a number of challengin...
...instances in which people had died in ICE 's custody, often in facilities wher...
...was a contract facility, there weren't ICE people there day to day, and you wer...
...Homeland Security [DHS] and the CBP and ICE needed to be demonstrated and shown...
...the enforcement policy, particularly at ICE , but in softer steps in other parts o...
...enforcement agency, much larger than ICE . The average person on the street wa...
...distinction. Most of the people that ICE detained and removed were actuall...
...I thought it was an important part of ICE 's mission to support border control. ...
...how decisions get made? We think about, ICE does deportation, but I assume tha...
...say, the focus tended to always be on ICE . I understood that. I did feel, and ...
...and Border Protection—much larger than ICE . The Border Patrol alone was ...
...in staffing terms. Then you had ICE , and ICE had an immigration side an...
...staffing terms. Then you had ICE, and ICE had an immigration side and it had ...
...institutional position than ICE did. And I think there was much mor...
...relative to interior enforcement. So ICE was always in a more difficult, an...
...was. The way DHS was structured, and ICE was structured, in the wake of th...
...Homeland Security Department was that ICE had a portion of th...
...the focus was largely in terms of ICE , and that was because CBP—the concep...
...But then, they turned you over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement , or they released you. But generall...
...a policy matter, for that to be done by ICE . CIS also had charging authority. S...
...had charging authority. So all three— ICE , CBP, and CIS—could put people int...
...But those agencies tended to look to ICE as the center of policy from ...
...employees at the agency that I oversaw. ICE had a union for the immigration agents...
...terms of me personally, but in terms of ICE —ICE being the vehicle for that polic...
...of me personally, but in terms of ICE— ICE being the vehicle for that polic...
...also curious about the culture at ICE and how publicizing these deportatio...
...in things like DACA? First of all, ICE was many cultures. ICE was Immigration...
...First of all, ICE was many cultures. ICE was Immigrations and Custom...
...large, and it—just the customs side of Immigration and Customs Enforcement —was the second-largest crimina...
...But it was actually the customs side of ICE , and a side of ICE that I think wa...
...the customs side of ICE, and a side of ICE that I think was deeply undervalued an...
...and do the best that I could. I think ICE agents tend to be, sometimes, reflecte...
...So when we would have the meetings at ICE headquarters and invite everybody down...
...to have a big meeting, and CBP, and ICE , and CIS, and the secretary, and th...
...play in shaping what you were doing at ICE ? Where did they fit in with— The...
...of government. Being the director of ICE is not for the faint of heart. Don'...
...good portion of the time that I was at Immigration and Customs Enforcement , super thoughtful. You had a lot o...
...Morton Mr. Morton served as director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement from 2009 to 2013. Prior to that, h...
...as raids, or work-site raids, where ICE would go to work sites and conduc...
...in technical terms, largely applied to ICE 's actions and my general powers as th...
...it was the right fight. Given that ICE was already operating under the Morto...
...under the Morton memos, how did how ICE functioned change once DACA was pu...
...making the entire department—not just ICE , the entire department, as a...
...you navigated that relationship between ICE and these state and loca...
...got to say, it's funny. As the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement , half the agency is about customs, bu...
...coming into the role, that the C within ICE felt deeply neglected an...
...I'm not sure I would have named ICE “ICE.” Not a deeper question of whethe...
...I'm not sure I would have named ICE “ ICE .” Not a deeper question of whether o...
...of whether or not I would have even put ICE together in the way that it was pu...
...around immigration. That side of ICE was doing so many interesting an...
...a long, proud history as an agency. And ICE was half of that legacy. CBP tended t...
...CBP tended to anchor to it more than ICE did, in no small part because CB...
...because CBP started with customs, and ICE started with immigration and then wen...
...to you before, the customs part of ICE was the second-larges...
...In a weird way, it's come around in ICE 's favor, because the internet—it i...
... I always tried, when I was at ICE , to meet with anybody who wanted t...
...and role of customs, and of having ICE go out and make a really stron...
...in on some of those areas, lead to ICE ultimately assuming responsibility i...
...exclusive responsibility, but I think ICE 's role in intellectual propert...
...challenge for the customs side of ICE . Until immigration is resolved as a...
...do think, ultimately, I would structure ICE differently. I'm not in the “Abolis...
...differently. I'm not in the “Abolish ICE ” camp. I don't think many people ar...
...many people are truly in the “Abolish ICE ” camp. It's a little bit like th...
...and controversial pieces, which ICE was the recipient of. I think you'v...
...relative to CIS, even relative to ICE —there were more [laughs] border patro...
...patrol agents than there were in all of ICE . And half of ICE was customs. So yo...
...there were in all of ICE. And half of ICE was customs. So you can see that thes...
...said, I think what “Abolish ICE ” is really—if it's trying to get a...
...and women—most of the men and women—at ICE just to be trying to do a good job, an...
...I had twenty things I wanted to do at ICE , and history will judge whether ...
...two small girls while I was the head of ICE . I had an excellent relationship wit...
...no version of life as the director of ICE that doesn't have a hand grenade tha...
...of homeland security. I was the head of ICE . And that meant something. And tha...

Janet Napolitano

...I mean by that is, the activities of ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]...
...by that is, the activities of ICE [ Immigration and Customs Enforcement ], and particularly an element of IC...
...and particularly an element of ICE known as ERO [Enforcement and Remova...
...over at DHS. When I took over at DHS, ICE was a really problematic department. I...
...into deportation. But with respect to ICE , we said, Look, it's a law enforcemen...

...that process to reach the fingertips of ICE , because it was a real culture change...
...Immigration Services] and the head of ICE and the head of CBP. But he announce...
...fellow who had been appointed head of ICE , which is a really difficult job...
...advantage of that. Since you mentioned ICE : How did you sell DACA to ICE and IC...
...mentioned ICE: How did you sell DACA to ICE and ICE agents? Or how did that—yo...
...ICE: How did you sell DACA to ICE and ICE agents? Or how did that—you know, al...
...because it was a culture change. ICE agents view themselves as immigratio...
...only talking about the ERO part of ICE . ICE has a number of other function...
...only talking about the ERO part of ICE. ICE has a number of other functions tha...
...back to Treasury, or we should move ICE over to DOJ, or abolish ICE altogether...
...should move ICE over to DOJ, or abolish ICE altogether. And I just think thos...

Jane Lute

...things going in and out, whether it's ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement...
...going in and out, whether it's ICE [ Immigration and Customs Enforcement ] doing its job, or the Coast Guard, o...
...But I learned a lot. I visited ICE sites. I certainly visited Borde...
...from visits down to the border or with ICE agents? Did it change your view o...
...that we're asking the men and women of ICE and Border Protection to do th...

...a surprise. But the men and women of ICE and of CBP [Customs and Borde...

Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Obama Presidency Oral History

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