ICE Has Arrested More Than 400 In Operation Targeting Parents Who Pay Smugglers

According to news reports, the U.S. government is putting immigrant parents in an impossible choice, reminiscent of the situation faced by a parent in the famous Meryl Streep movie Sophie’s Choice.

Parents Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested more than 400 people in an operation targeting undocumented parents and guardians who allegedly paid smugglers to bring their children to the U.S., putting them in grave danger. An ICE spokesman tells NPR the domestic phase of its Human Smuggling Disruption Initiative concluded on Friday. He said the “surge initiative” will now shift its focus to the transnational smuggling organizations that bring the children to the U.S.-Mexico border.

The operation, which uses immigrant children to target their sponsors in the U.S., has been controversial. Immigrant advocates complain it is hampering efforts to reunite families.  Critics also say it was just another ICE roundup, and didn’t have the intended effect of breaking up smuggling rings. The vast majority of those arrested have been hit with civil and criminal immigration violations. Only a handful were charged with federal smuggling crimes.

KJ