The ICE Man Cometh: ICE “Surge” in Texas Leads to Arrest of “Criminal Aliens”

Continuing the Obama administration’s never-ending commitment to an “enforcement now, enforcement forever” immigration strategy, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has announced an “enforcement surge” resulting in the arrests of close to 300 undocumented immigrants with criminal convictions in Texas.  Reportedly, some, but not all, of those arrested had convictions for violent crimes or  drug offenses.

Reports in California are that the increased efforts to deport “criminal aliens” are resulting in the arrests of a number of noncitizens with quite stale criminal convictions, including convictions for relatively minor crimes in the 1970s that only became removable offenses with the 1996 immigration reforms.  (at least one reporter I talked with expressed surprise that the changes in the immigration laws could be applied retoractively.  Welcome to immigration law!, I told her.  But, seriously, it is hard to see how removal of noncitizens in this category can be said to do much of anything with respect to public safety.

KJ