U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were told to “push the envelope” and come up with new ways of increasing arrests, according to a report from the Guardian.
The emails were sent over the weekend from two different senior US immigration officials.
According to the outlet, “One of the emails, written by Marcos Charles, the acting executive associate director of ICE’s enforcement and removal operations, instructs ICE officials to go after people they may coincidentally encounter.”
“All collateral encounters need to be interviewed, and anyone that is found to be amenable to removal needs to be arrested,” Charles said. “We need to turn the creative knob up to 11 and push the envelope.”
He later added, “We complained for the last four years about not being allowed to do our job, and now the time has come for us to step up!”
A second email reviewed by the Guardian was written by longtime ICE official Francisco Madrigal.
“While the weekend is still young, please look at efforts to increase our arrests over these two days compared to our results from last weekend,” Madrigal wrote. “We know there are different dynamics to consider on Sats and Sundays, and many of you have been pushing what works and trying out new lines of effort as well.
“If you’d like to run something up or if we can help give a push somewhere, please reach out. If it involves handcuffs on wrists, it’s probably worth pursuing,” Madrigal added.
“I am extremely troubled by [the emails] for a number of reasons,” Mark Fleming, associate director of litigation at the National Immigrant Justice Center, told the Guardian.
The newspaper noted, “Fleming said the emails suggest an attempt by ICE to skirt the legal requirements for warrantless arrests.”
