On Wednesday, June 1, 2011, Tea Party supporters from San Antonio, New Braunfels, Seguin, and McAllen met with four representatives of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) at the Lion & Rose Pub in San Antonio.  Allen Tharp, Lion & Rose owner and Tea Party supporter, hosted the group in a private room with a sumptuous buffet.

Harold Hurtt, assistant director of the Office of State, Local and Tribal Coordination for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Washington D.C., introduced himself and described his background as a police chief who had been in law enforcement for 41 years. He opened with a statement of ICE’s priorities: ICE prioritizes enforcement, focusing first on removing criminal aliens convicted of the most serious crimes, such as murder, rape, kidnapping, major drug offenses and threats to national security.

ICE is responsible for interdiction of violent criminals, human/weapon/drug traffickers, and money launderers; interdiction of those intent on doing harm to the United States of America, i.e., terrorists; and enforcement of laws against employer hiring of illegals.  ICE holds frequent meetings with other governmental organizations, such as state, local, and Mexican law enforcement.  According to Mr. Hurtt, ICE has good cooperation and coordination with these agencies. He also said that he likes to meet with local groups, such as the Tea Party, to have a two-way dialogue to gain feedback from the grassroots level and keep the lines of communication open.

We also heard from ICE Special Agent in Charge Jerry Robinette, another former police chief, who operates out of the San Antonio office and covers the entire south Texas border with Mexico. He described his role as enforcement of the objectives previously defined by Mr. Hurtt.  Referring to ICE’s limited resources, he said the agency was doing a good job nonetheless. For example, he described ICE’s Secure Communities Program.

Fingerprint records taken by local law enforcement during booking are automatically checked against the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) immigration records, providing the ability to accurately identify aliens in custody. When fingerprint submissions match immigration records, local ICE officers are notified and promptly determine if immigration enforcement action is required. This information sharing capability is currently activated in 1,315 jurisdictions in 42 states. By 2013, ICE plans to use this capability nationwide. California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Florida all have 100% of their jurisdictions participating in the Secure Communities program.

Since this Secure Communities capability was first activated in 2008, information sharing has helped ICE identify and remove more than 72,000 convicted criminal aliens from the United States. For Texas the number of convicted criminal aliens arrested or booked into ICE custody through the Secure Communities program was over 27,000. Of these, the convicted criminal aliens removed from the U.S. were over 20,000. Bexar County has been a part of the Secure Communities program since June, 2009.

He described the process of interviewing suspected illegals in local holding cells, building a case, and turning them over for removal.

We also heard from Michael J. Pitts, Field Office Director, Enforcement and Removal Operations.  Mr. Pitts is responsible for 11 Texas detention centers.  Mr. Pitts spoke of work being done in detention centers in Raymondville, Pearsall, Los Fresnos, and Laredo, Texas.

Both Robinette and Pittman said that enforcing immigration laws is a federal function that must be done according to the Constitution without profiling or improper legal procedure. They went on to say that half of the public support and agree with their efforts and half do not. They said that they do not get involved in the politics of immigration–only in the enforcement of existing laws with limited resources at their disposal. They did not speak specifically of the “287” program in which ICE trains local law enforcement to conduct interviews themselves before turning suspects over to ICE. However, they did say that, even in “sanctuary cities,” police chiefs cooperated well with ICE by inviting ICE personnel into holding cells. The flat statement was made that there are no sanctuary cities in central and south Texas.

Special Agent in Charge Jerry Robinette spoke about the Asset Forfeiture program, used by ICE to seize assets from criminal organizations or monies acquired through criminal activity. Under this program, federal, state and local law enforcement partners and foreign governments working with ICE in joint investigations can be eligible to receive a portion of the proceeds of a federal forfeiture, which fosters greater partnership and cooperation among agencies. He spoke of millions of dollars seized and given to state and local law enforcement jurisdictions.

At this point, the floor was opened to questions and comments. These included the following:

1.  Question: How do we better enforce closing the border to illegals?  Answer: Texans know how best to do this and “ask the Border Patrol.”

2.  Question: What resources does ICE need to enforce border security more effectively?  Answer: No clear answer was given.

3.  Question: Does anyone really believe certain politicians’ statements that enforcement had improved over the years?  Answer: It depends on how one defines improvement.

4.  Question: How can the Tea Party help to address ICE’s needs to accomplish its objectives? Answer: Hold meetings with your Congressmen and urge them to better support ICE.

Moderator, George Rodriguez, thanked the ICE guests, invited them to meet again on a quarterly basis, and concluded the meeting.

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