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2018-07-06 Home Front: Politix

[National Review] Prominent Democrats have decided that the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement should be abolished. We aren’t surprised the "Abolish ICE" slogan has caught on, given the party has been moving left on the immigration issue for years. And for now, "Abolish ICE" is nothing but rhetoric: Even the agency’s most strident opponents, perhaps wary of adopting a position too far outside the mainstream of public opinion, have been vague about what they would do after abolishing the agency. Hence Kirsten Gillibrand wants to abolish ICE, but also to "start over, reimagine it, and build something that actually works."

Nonetheless, the slogan is a useful shorthand for the Democratic position on internal immigration enforcement: as little as possible. Democrats have pointed to ICE’s newness ‐ it was created in 2003 ‐ as evidence that the agency is inessential. But internal enforcement happened before 2003; it was simply performed by Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS). The creation of the Department of Homeland Security in the wake of 9/11 prompted a reshuffling of the executive branch’s national-security apparatus. The wing of INS that handled green cards, citizenship, and work permits was reconstituted under U.S. Customs and Immigration Services, while the "enforcement" branch of INS was combined with certain customs operations to become ICE.

ICE is thus composed of two parts: Enforcement and Removal Operations, which enforces our immigration laws within the borders, identifies illegal aliens, and conducts deportations; and Homeland Security Investigations, which conducts investigations into smuggling, human trafficking, and assorted criminal activity. Because this investigative wing of ICE is also responsible for conducting worksite enforcement ‐ taking action against employers who hire and profit off of unauthorized workers ‐ it may be that ICE’s structure could be improved: The agency’s enforcement-and-removal wing may be better suited to enforcing the law against these businesses than is the investigative wing.

But of course this isn’t what "abolish ICE" is about. The Democratic party already has coalesced around the policy that only illegal immigrants who are convicted felons should be deported; internal enforcement against non-felons would then be unnecessary. We suspect it is the enforcement of our immigration laws itself that the Left objects to. A significant chunk of illegal immigrants are people who overstayed their visas. Abolishing our internal-enforcement agency would mean that these immigrants were de facto free to stay in the country so long as they did not commit a felony. And though ICE does not police the border, illegal border-crossing would be incentivized in a world without internal enforcement, as those who managed to make it into the country would not be subject to deportation. Without ICE, the U.S. would have an immigration system with mostly meaningless limits.

We would be happy to discuss ways to reform ICE and make it a more effective tool of internal enforcement. That is not the conversation Democrats want to have. "Abolish ICE" is at once an empty rhetorical flourish, a poorly conceived policy, and a sign of how much the Democrats have radicalized on immigration.

Posted by Besoeker 2018-07-06 10:23|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top

#1 Anyone who wants to abolish ICE should take a trip to Mexico - not Cancun or Cabo San Lucas - but to the real Mexico. Drive across the border at San Diego or El Paso, if you don't mind a little risk taking. Check it out. The dirt, the shacks, the poverty. If you want America to look like that then go ahead, abolish ICE.

Posted by Abu Uluque 2018-07-06 11:47|| 2018-07-06 11:47|| Front Page Top

#2 empty rhetorical flourish, a poorly conceived policy

Sounds like Notional Review talking about themselves

Posted by M. Murcek 2018-07-06 13:54|| 2018-07-06 13:54|| Front Page Top

#3 Change it's name back to INS and declare ICE abolished.
End of story.

Posted by 3dc 2018-07-06 15:10|| 2018-07-06 15:10|| Front Page Top

#4 Nah, rename them Frontier Guards and give them a set with the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Posted by Procopius2k 2018-07-06 18:44|| 2018-07-06 18:44|| Front Page Top

06:48 Procopius2k
06:47 Skidmark
06:46 Skidmark
06:39 NN2N1
06:37 Frank G
06:37 Skidmark
06:35 Eohippus Smiter of the Faith3343
06:34 Skidmark
06:31 Grom the Reflective
06:30 Gloluns Turkeyneck4904
06:27 Skidmark
06:27 Grom the Reflective
06:26 Grom the Reflective
06:25 NN2N1
06:24 Skidmark
06:22 Frank G
06:20 Grom the Reflective
06:19 Skidmark
06:11 Skidmark
06:04 Skidmark
05:57 Skidmark
05:56 Frank G
05:48 NN2N1
05:33 Besoeker