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As ICE recruits local police, its crackdown in Mass. continues
ICE is specifically trying to recruit local police who may be upset with policies that limit their involvement in immigration enforcement.
Massachusetts residents watching the local news or sports games recently have likely seen new ads from ICE, as the agency simultaneously increases enforcement operations and works to increase its ranks.
The ads are explicitly targeted at local law enforcement officers who may disagree with policies that limit their cooperation with ICE. The Trump administration is making an explicit effort to capitalize on these “sanctuary” policies by characterizing cities that have them, like Boston, as crime-infested places where hardened criminals are allowed to walk free.
“Attention Boston law enforcement,” an announcer says in one TV spot. “You took an oath to protect & serve, to keep your family, your city safe. But in sanctuary cities, you’re ordered to stand down while dangerous illegals walk free.”
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Similar ads are playing in markets around the country, as ICE officials oversee a major recruitment campaign. Federal officials are hoping to recruit “patriots” in order to “remove the worst of the worst” from the country. Current data shows that more than 71% of ICE detainees have no criminal convictions. Some advocates say that the ads being used by the federal government are using images and rhetoric that are steeped in white nationalism.
Ragini Shah, a law professor at Suffolk University who oversees the school’s Immigrant Justice Clinic, says she is not surprised by the tenor of the current recruitment pitch, as it is “rhetorically aligned” with how those in the Trump administration have characterized immigrants as “invaders” that need to be summarily cast out of the U.S.
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“I think they’re definitely ramping up as if they’re recruiting for a military operation,” Shah told Boston.com.
Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, laid the groundwork for this type of recruitment pitch in August. Lyons previously served as the head of ICE’s Boston Field Office. During an interview with local radio host Howie Carr, he said that he still knows many people in local law enforcement who want to support ICE.
“We have so many men and women on the Boston Police Department and other jurisdictions that are so pro-ICE, that want to work with us, and that are actually helping us behind the scenes,” he said.
The idea of federal law enforcement agencies trying to recruit local police is not inherently abnormal, former Boston police commissioner Ed Davis recently told The Boston Globe. But spreading the message that local police are not fulfilling their duties because of immigration policies is “kind of a cheap shot,” he said.
Local law enforcement agencies are already struggling to keep staffing levels adequate, and the ICE pitch could hinder those efforts.
“Right now it’s very difficult to recruit police officers so it’s tough that the federal government is poaching men and women like this,” Davis told the Globe.
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To help with recruitment, ICE is offering generous perks like $50,000 signing bonuses and up to $60,000 in student loan forgiveness. With legislation signed over the summer, ICE is seeing a massive infusion of funding: its annual budget is set to balloon from $9.9 billion to $28 billion.
ICE conducted a major operation in and around Boston in May, detaining almost 1,500 people. Now, another major crackdown dubbed “Operation Patriot 2.0” is playing out.
Shah and her students work with immigrants and immigration advocates constantly. An increased ICE presence in immigrant communities is obvious, and the fear is palpable, she said.
“People are very afraid. People are afraid to go to work, some kids are afraid to go to school, afraid to go to doctor’s appointments. The same kinds of things we saw in May are happening again,” she said.
In Somerville, local officials are doing their best to track ICE activity and make sure residents know their rights. In Milford, the parents of a detained teen are being left in the dark about his whereabouts. Agents operating in Leominster were accused of using an immigrant’s daughter to try to lure him out of his home.
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Shah harshly criticized the current enforcement operation and accused agents of using excessive force.
“We’ve really lost the plot in terms of how we treat other human beings. We’re allowing all of this brutality by these agents, not one of whom has been held accountable,” she said.
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