The Independent View: ICE Has Been Wrongfully Targeting Hundreds of U.S. Citizens

Reining in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) isn’t just an Immigration Issue, it’s a Civil Rights Issue that affects All of us.

Potentially Hundreds of U.S. Citizens are being Wrongfully Targeted by the Mass Deportation Agency every year, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says in a Startling New Report, and in a Process that Several Courts have already said is Unconstitutional.

In the Miami-Dade County Area alone, 420 U.S. Citizens were Targeted by ICE between February 2017 and February 2019, Coinciding with the Trump Administration’s Unshackling of Federal Immigration Agents. “ICE can issue requests, known as ‘detainers,’ to local jails asking them to hold inmates they suspect of being in the country illegally until the federal agency can assume custody of them,” Huffington Post Reports.

But “courts have repeatedly ruled against the Trump Administration’s position on ICE detainers,” Immigrant Rights Advocacy Group America’s Voice said Last year.

“That’s why police departments and chiefs have repeatedly stood up to the Trump Administration’s demands for police to detain immigrants—not only because it makes communities less safe, but because it would force police to conduct unconstitutional acts and open jurisdictions up for liability.”

ICE Ended up Dropping over 80 Detainers in the Miami-Dade area, “a strong indication that it had wrongly identified dozens of U.S. citizens as being undocumented, the civil liberties group said.” It’s Unknown how Many of the Others were Pursued or Detained by ICE. The Agency has Illegally Deported U.S. Citizens in the Past, and Florida could now be Pushing itself into more Legal Trouble by considering a Bill “that would force local governments to honor these ICE requests,” Miami New Times Reports.

In just One Example of this Put-of-Control Agency’s Tactics, U.S.-Born Peter Sean Brown was Wrongly Targeted for Deportation to Jamaica last December with the Help of a Key West, Florida Sheriff’s Office that already has a History of Harassing Immigrants. Brown, according to the ACLU, had never even Heard of ICE before. He’s now Suing the Agency, saying “there has to be a stop at some point, before it becomes all of us.”

One Irish Man has been Deported, and another has had his Work Permit Revoked and is Waiting Deportation. But both are Dual US-Irish Citizens who came here during the Clinton Administration.

ICE bears the Burden of Proof to show the Person they’ve targeted for Deportation is Not a U.S. Citizen. Tendering Proof of U.S. Citizenship should stop ICE Cold.

It happens because of:

(1) Mistaken Identity

(2) The Person did Not know they were a U.S. Citizen and did not find out until they were in Deportation and saw a Lawyer. A Green Card Holder who had never Naturalized. When he tried, he found he had been a Citizen for 20 years and did Not know it. People who Naturalize must make sure the Government updates their System.

The Trump Policy is: If they Don’t think you are a Citizen even if you are, they will treat you like a Non-Citizen. They can Deport you before you have a Chance to stop the Process, and once you are Out of the U.S., it’s much harder to Access Legal Assistance.