Probably because the original mission for ICE has shifted from public safety (focusing on actual criminals) to an obsession with increasing deportation numbers that undermines the agency's original mission.
Mission creep.
"This current administration is chaotic. It's moving at breakneck speeds. They're under tremendous pressure," said John Sandweg, who was acting director of ICE under President Barack Obama, from August 2013 to February 2014
.
"When you have your officers and agents focused on grabbing as many people as you can. What you're doing is you're diverting the resources that could be focused on those more serious criminal populations, the real problem here," Sandweg said.
Sandweg believes that an obsession with increasing deportation numbers undermines the agency's mission to protect public safety. According to the former director, a more effective strategy would resemble the more targeted enforcement focus of the Obama years.
"If they were utilizing the Obama-era strategies and tactics that we utilized, I would have far less concerns," Sandweg said. He emphasized that a more effective strategy would be to prioritize removing individuals who pose significant public safety threats.
"If you say, hey, our goal is to deport as many people as possible, by definition, what that ends up resulting in is a lower quality of removal.
It's just easier and faster to apprehend individuals who don't pose a threat to public safety than it is to apprehend individuals who are dangerous," said Sandweg.
"Gangsters, serious criminals are just harder to find. You know, that's just a population that's more difficult, more challenging to find … in a perfect world, ICE is no longer measured by the number of people that they've deported, but rather upon, you know, the quality of those removals, who they're getting off the streets.
"Unfortunately, the administration's taken an opposite approach."
Sandweg said:
"Trump has created this narrative that the agency wasn't working at full capacity under Biden—but that's just not true. ICE was already operating at capacity, arresting as many migrants as they possibly could, given their resources. So, the frustration from the White House comes from unrealistic expectations."
As Trump ramps up mass deportations, critics like Sandweg warn that prioritizing numbers over safety could let the most dangerous offenders slip through the cracks.
According to Sandweg, focusing on mass arrests strains ICE's limited resources and pulls agents away from pursuing violent criminals and national security threats. This, he argues, ultimately makes the country less safe.
Supporters of Trump's approach, however, contend that a broader enforcement strategy deters illegal immigration and restores the rule of law. They argue that every undocumented individual is violating federal statutes, and removing as many people as possible sends a clear message that the U.S. will not tolerate unlawful entry.
Trump administration's approach is "chaotic" and unrealistic, says former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement
www.newsweek.com