Before dawn, in a New York City parking lot, a group of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers prepared for a targeted operation. Their target: three men with prior convictions for sexual assault. The officers, equipped with body armor and radios, received a briefing before dispersing to their assigned locations near a two-story building. The operation, observed by the Associated Press, highlighted the complexities and limitations of ICE’s enforcement efforts.
Kenneth Genalo, head of Enforcement and Removal Operations for ICE in New York, explained that the agency focuses on targeted enforcement, refuting the misconception of widespread sweeps. He emphasized that ICE doesn’t randomly apprehend individuals but rather targets specific individuals with outstanding orders of removal or criminal records. The return of Donald Trump to the White House, however, has raised significant questions about the future direction of immigration enforcement. Trump’s campaign promise of mass deportations contrasts with the realities faced by ICE agents: a massive backlog of cases far exceeding their capacity.
While the Biden administration prioritized deporting individuals who posed public safety threats or were recent border crossers, the incoming Trump administration, under the guidance of “border czar” Tom Homan, signaled a broader approach. Homan stated that anyone in the country illegally faces potential deportation, raising concerns about the feasibility of such a sweeping initiative.
The sheer scale of the challenge is immense. Approximately 1.4 million individuals have final orders of removal, and 660,000 under immigration supervision have criminal convictions or pending charges. Yet, only 6,000 ICE officers are responsible for monitoring and removing these individuals. This staffing shortage is further exacerbated by a fourfold increase in the caseload over the past decade, reaching 7.6 million cases. The diversion of approximately 10% of the workforce to the U.S.-Mexico border during periods of increased immigration pressure further strained resources.
Jason Houser, former ICE chief of staff under the Biden administration, asserted that the limited resources make it impossible to simultaneously pursue both large-scale deportations and focused targeting of public safety threats. The process of locating and apprehending individuals is time-consuming, requiring agents to obtain leads, verify legal authority, and track down their targets, often outside of residences due to restrictions on entering private dwellings.
During the observed operation, officers successfully apprehended the first target, a 23-year-old Ecuadorian man with a conviction for raping a minor. The arrest, however, had a devastating impact on his 22-year-old wife and their young children. While she understood the reason for his arrest, she highlighted mitigating circumstances and expressed the shock of the sudden separation.
ICE recently reported deporting over 270,000 individuals in a 12-month period – the highest annual total in a decade – but also noted a decrease in arrests due to border deployment demands. The arrested individuals, however, disproportionately had serious criminal histories. Cooperation with ICE varies significantly across jurisdictions, with some states and cities implementing sanctuary policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. This lack of cooperation, according to Genalo, compromises public safety by releasing criminals back into the community.
ICE’s current staffing levels are also significantly below authorized numbers, further hindering their ability to effectively manage their caseload. Immigration advocates, meanwhile, expressed concerns about ICE’s tactics, particularly in light of Trump’s return to office. They argue that while targeting public safety threats is a long-standing policy, the rhetoric often employed paints immigrants negatively and overlooks potential nuances in individual cases.
Genalo, while unable to comment on the incoming administration’s plans, reiterated the agency’s focus on targeting individuals with criminal histories, emphasizing a substantial backlog of approximately 58,000 cases. The scale of this backlog suggests that ICE agents will remain heavily focused on addressing individuals with criminal convictions for the foreseeable future.