ICE officers face grave danger in their work

ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents are on the front lines of national security in guarding citizens from those immigrants, illegal and legal, who come here to kill, create chaos, and weaken this country, or commit other crimes.

A new bulletin from ICE, excerpted below, describes the human smuggling racket in unforgettable detail, giving photographs.  ICE officers deal with this challenge daily.

Although Pres. Trump promised to improve immigration enforcement drastically, the ICE agents’ union is justifiably disturbed by the slow pace and the continuing influence of hold-over employees and supervisors from the previous Administration who are dragging their feet, undermining enforcement, and making the job of ICE agents unacceptably, unnecessarily dangerous.   See the report by Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times, “ICE agents rebel, say Trump ‘betrayed’ them by retaining Obama’s people.”

Below is an excerpt from the ICE bulletin on human smuggling.  Unfortunately, we don’t learn much about these important issues in the general media.

Human Smuggling Equals Grave Danger, Big Money

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sent this bulletin at 11/15/2017 01:54 PM EST

Moving human beings as cargo pays in the billions of dollars for transnational criminal smuggling organizations.

Human smuggling is the illegal importation of people into a country via the deliberate evasion of immigration laws. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) serves as the leading U.S. law enforcement agency responsible for the fight against human smuggling.

“They have no concern for humanity, none; it’s a money business,” said Jack Staton, acting special agent in charge for ICE Homeland Security Investigations El Paso, Texas, “they look at people as merchandise, as a way to make money.”

Staton most often encounters individuals crossing from the Juárez, Mexico area, into Texas and New Mexico.

Individuals seeking covert entry into the United States know they need to pay an organization for transport. Smuggling organizations, often associated with other transnational criminal organizations and able to take advantage of people in desperate circumstances, provide that transportation at a significant cost.

Human smuggling on the southwest border of the U.S. is a daily occurrence.

“The Rio Grande Valley is the busiest area for human smuggling activity in the U.S. right now,” said Staton, “from San Diego, California, to Brownsville, Texas, there is activity every day.”

Human smuggling operates as a contract business; an understanding exists among transnational criminal organizations, smugglers and individuals seeking transport that trying to cross the border independently is not an option. Smugglers escort the illegal aliens through the desert, across the border, to stash houses and onto their final destinations within the interior of the U.S. A portion of the smuggling fees paid to the transnational criminal organizations helps fuel their other criminal enterprises.

Endless ways exist in which to smuggle human beings and most of them don’t take into account personal safety or comfort.

Smugglers move humans as part of cargo transports, in vehicles, in boats, in tractor-trailers, in box cars on trains and in automobiles and trucks that are transported on trains as cargo. Smugglers also utilize legitimate transportation options such as commercial buses and flights.

Illicit migrants traveling to the U.S. often pay additional fees for certain types of transportation methods; for example, an individual may pay extra money for transport in a tractor-trailer because the chance of making it across the border is greater than on foot. If the trip takes place in the summer, temperatures can easily rise above 100 degrees in the truck and the situation can quickly become dangerous.

Underestimating the potential danger of human smuggling can have a deadly outcome. …

Read the rest of the article here.