As part of its campaign of intimidation against state and local
governments that choose not to collaborate with Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE), Trump administration officials have confirmed plans for two new tactics in their anti-immigrant
agenda. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will deploy Border Patrol’s
special forces-style unit, known as BORTAC, and other Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) agents — dressed in plainclothes — into Chicago, New York
City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Boston, New Orleans,
Detroit, and Newark. And it is reportedly launching Operation Palladium, enlisting 500 special agents for an “enhanced
arrest campaign” designed to “flood the streets” of these same cities.
The potential target
list is much longer. The Trump administration claims that it needs to deploy
BORTAC and other special agents to so-called “sanctuary cities” where, as DHS
has said, “our officers are forced to make
at-large arrests” — rather than
take custody of individuals from state and local law enforcement who honor ICE
hold requests (also known as detainers.) But nearly a quarter of all counties in the U.S. now restrict or refuse altogether to
honor those hold requests from ICE according to the Immigrant Legal Resource
Center, making them all potential targets for the administration’s attacks.
In one sense,
these announcements are pure political theater, designed to look tough and
stoke fears of immigrants during an election year.
In another sense,
they are part of a very real attack on the prerogatives of state and local
governments to focus their resources on local public safety and welfare needs,
rather than on federal immigration enforcement.
Under the
anti-commandeering principle of the Tenth Amendment, the federal government cannot
force states to participate in a federal regulatory program, including by
requiring states to use their resources for it. Local officials are right to
reject detainers, which can violate the Fourth Amendment and are often riddled
with errors. ICE has, for example, wrongly issued detainers for thousands of U.S. citizens, resulting in U.S. citizens being detained and
processed for deportation.
The Trump
administration first announced the BORTAC deployment on February 14, calling it
a “national security” measure. Then last week, officials tried to
downplay it. In classic double-speak, Acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan told Congress: “We have 100 individuals, 50 officers, 50
agents. They’re all volunteers. Some of them just happen to also be BORTAC
agents. But there’s no BORTAC element.” He also revealed for the first time that
last year BORTAC had joined “over 70 operations” with ICE.
There’s much we
still don’t know about how BORTAC will work with ICE. What we do know are some
of the risks of further militarization of our streets. BORTAC agents are specifically
trained for high-risk enforcement operations domestically and abroad. They
operate in border communities that are already highly militarized. They receive additional weapons, such as stun
grenades, and enhanced Special Forces-type training, including sniper
certification. BORTAC “acts essentially as the SWAT team of the Border Patrol.”
“In short, BORTAC
personnel are not meant to focus on routine operations in some of the United
States’ largest cities, and there is no need for them to be part of these
operations,” Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey wrote. That’s why nearly 70 members of Congress have
already written DHS expressing concern.
It is all too
easy to imagine BORTAC agents further escalating situations where ICE agents
are already known to use excessive force, including arrests at courthouses and worksite raids. And with Acting Secretary of Homeland Security
Chad Wolf’s announcement that these SWAT-like agents would be dressed in
plainclothes — disguising officers trained for special operations to navigate
communities undetected— that risk will be heightened further.
In border
communities, unaccountable CBP officers have repeatedly committed serious
abuses. At least 94 people have died following CBP
encounters since 2010,
including in shootings, car chases ending in deadly crashes, and when CBP
officers forced a young man to drink liquid methamphetamine. CBP claims
unconstitutional authority to search and seize nearly anyone within the 100-mile border zone, raising a litany of civil rights concerns.
ICE and CBP do
not view themselves as accountable to Congress or the public. Police who work
with these agencies risk being associated with their abuses. And local
collaboration with federal immigration enforcement is bad for public safety: It
destroys trust between law enforcement and local communities, as people fear
that by interacting with police – reporting a crime tip, acting as a witness,
seeking protection as a victim – they or their loved ones will end up being
taken away by ICE. The Major Cities Chiefs Association, the Presidential Task Force on 21st Century Policing, and
attorneys general from New York, Oregon, Washington, Rhode Island, and DC and local
law enforcement leaders from across the
country have come out against local police entanglement with ICE.
Bottom line:
Ramping up immigration enforcement makes local communities less safe. State and
local governments are right to enact policies that protect immigrants and
citizens alike from the Trump administration’s intimidation. ICE and CBP need
to be reined in — not unleashed and let loose on our cities.