Agents with Homeland Security Investigations push to break away from ICE, saying negative reputation

Source: Washington Post

Agents with Homeland Security Investigations push to break away from ICE, saying negative reputation hurts their work

By Maria Sacchetti and Nick Miroff
Today at 7:00 a.m. EST

Federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations say they have been kicked out of joint drug operations, shunned by local police departments and heckled at campus career fairs. Their parent agency, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, carries a stigma that is undermining their investigative work across the country, the agents said in an internal report.

The agents say they face a backlash in liberal “sanctuary” jurisdictions where authorities strictly limit contact with ICE but also in some Republican-led states where politicians are vocal in their support for the agency. And the toll on HSI agents is “getting worse,” according to the report that was prepared by a working group of agents formed by HSI to consider changes to the agency’s place within the Department of Homeland Security.

The HSI agents assembled dozens of these examples to convince DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that they should leave ICE. They say their affiliation with ICE’s immigration enforcement role is endangering their personal safety, stifling their partnerships with other agencies and scaring away crime victims, according to a copy of the report provided to The Washington Post.

“Separating HSI into its own standalone agency is not simply a branding preference,” agents said in the document, which was circulated in a Sept. 16 internal email. “HSI’s affiliation with ICE significantly impedes investigations and HSI’s ability to fulfill its mission.”

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/hsi-ice-split/2021/12/28/85dc6c66-61ad-11ec-8ce3-9454d0b46d42_story.html

Shared WaPo link: https://wapo.st/3zdm3cW