What is ICE/CBP and Why They Should not be Abolished
There are a lot of misconceptions about ICE/CBP, so let’s clear those up. First off, what is ICE and what do they do? ICE stands for (U.S.) Immigration and Customs Enforcement they are under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE prevents trafficking of illegal goods such as drugs, weapons, money, counterfeit merchandise, etc. They also aid in preventing human trafficking for the sex slave industry. ICE is not the same as Border Protection. ICE mainly works within the interior states.
If not ICE, who protects the United States’ Borders? There is a lot of confusion around this, the answer is Customs and Border Protection(CBP). CBP agents are the people you interact with after your Bahamian cruise. Their main focus in that situation is preventing the smuggling of animals, animal products, plants, fruits/vegetables, or any other organic matter that could contain bugs and/or diseases that are not native to the United States. U.S. Border Patrol (BP) is a division of CBP. While CBP patrols designated ports of entry, BP is tasked with patrolling the area at/around international borders.
After the election of President Trump’s came the rise of Rise and Resist(RAR), a leftist organization whose main focus is “rejecting State-sanctioned violence, bigotry, and systemic discrimination in all its forms.” You can read their full mission statement here. RAR is also a very large anti-ICE group who has been interrupting cabinet members at DC area restaurants in protest of ICE and President Trump’s zero-tolerance policies.
There is a lot of overlap between all of the immigration agencies but they should not be confused. CBP is the agency that detains people at the U.S. border, not ICE. Now, I will discuss why I believe ICE/CBP should not be abolished. Obviously, both ICE and CBP can be considered corrupt in the same way all government agencies can be, but that doesn’t mean we can abolish government. We need to acknowledge the corruption and work on reforming the agencies rather than getting rid of them. If we abolish ICE/CBP we are not just at risk of an increase in undocumented immigrants, and frankly, thinking that’s all ICE/CBP prevents is ludacris. Immigration is hardly one of the main issues that we need to focus on when talking about ICE/CBP. With the current migrant crisis, it’s obvious that immigration is a major focus of ICE/CBP, but not the only one.
If ICE/CBP was abolished, there would be an almost immediate increase in human and drug trafficking. Without these agencies keeping track of people and goods entering the country anyone and anything can enter, and people will exploit that privilege. The U.S. will also be at risk of disease outbreaks. As mentioned earlier a main focus of CBP is preventing the illegal smuggling of organic matter such as meat. Bushmeat, which refers to the meat of wild African animals, has been noted as a major source of the devastating Ebola Virus. Therefore without CBP enforcing regulations around imported goods, there is a major chance bushmeat entering the country and leading to an Ebola outbreak that devastates the U.S.
I’m not at all saying that ICE/CBP doesn’t need reform. I can not ignore the terrible issues with ICE/CBP such as; the separation of children and their family, unjust searches, deportation of those seeking asylum, and other horrible things. ICE/CBP needs to be reformed. ICE and CBP were only founded March of 2003, they’re only 15 years. They still need time to work out their issues.
Sources not cited:
“Bushmeat.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 June 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushmeat#Role_in_spread_of_diseases.
Murphy, Sarah E. “Overview of Federal Immigration Agencies - Border Immigration Lawyer.” Overview of the Inspection Process, www.borderimmigrationlawyer.com/overview-of-federal-immigratio/.
“What We Do.” ICE, ICE, www.ice.gov/overview.