Less than 4% arrested have past violent criminal conviction
Texas still leads the nation in terms of ICE arrests tied to the undocumented immigrant. And most of those have no history of a conviction for a violent crime. In fact, most have crimes related to civil traffic violations. (Source: NY Times.)
In fact, the Times published an article Aug. 27 with this headline — ICE Arrests Soar as People with No Criminal Record Are Increasingly Targeted.
According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), ICE arrests in Hidalgo County number approximately 3,300; approximately 8,900 in Cameron County; and a lower number in both Willacy and Starr counties.
Over what timeframe, though, isn’t easy to discover, given the federal government’s lack of transparency.
It’s clear, though, based on the word on the street, almost daily someone is reporting the arrest of someone near and dear to their heart – a longtime housekeeper, a man cutting grass; the guys laying the concrete driveway.
ICE picks them up while the driveway sits there only half complete.
This is called “Making America Safer.”
From the NY Times story: “A majority of the immigrants arrested in July were people who were accused of violating civil immigration laws but who had not been charged with or convicted of a crime, an analysis of newly released federal data shows. The share with a past violent criminal conviction fell to less than 4 percent.”
Less than 4 percent? But we’re not done yet. “A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said that the administration was keeping its promises to arrest and deport criminals and that anyone in the country illegally was a target for enforcement.” (Source: NY Times.)
Thanks to a big money influx from the Trump Administration and its cohorts on Capitol Hill, ICE now has more money than ever before, and it’s using it to hire more agents, which leads to more arrests: 380 a day in Texas and more than 230 a day in Florida.
ICE agents arrive early at convenience stores across Hidalgo County, grab a lunch taco before the construction crews arrive, and then pick up the blue-collar workers as they arrive, too, for lunch, turning the “law-enforcement” op into a two-fer.
With thousands of new agents hired, some vetted better than others, ICE grew by 8,000 agents in June, from 21,000 to 29,000.
Ironically, some of the agents out looking to arrest undocumented immigrants have run into speed bumps themselves.
According to anAP story, internal ICE whistleblowers and training academy staff in Brunswick, Ga., revealed instances of recruits with prior criminal charges of strong-arm robbery, domestic violence, battery, and gross misconduct. At least two dozen employees or contractors also faced criminal charges that included bribery, sexual abuse, and physical assault.
Fast-tracking the hiring of new ICE agents allowed people to get onto the federal payroll before completing standard finger-print vetting and field security form processing. (Source:AP.)