GAO: Agents need more guidance on handling illegal immigrants

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials exercise a lot of discretion in deciding which illegal immigrants they will apprehend and process for removal, yet they receive little guidance from their agency, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

"The lack of comprehensive and up-to-date guidance puts ICE officers at risk of taking actions that do not support the agency's operational objectives," the report (GAO-08-67) stated. "This risk is greatest in large-scale operations, including work site enforcement and fugitive operations, where officers may encounter numerous aliens with humanitarian issues and aliens who are not investigation targets."

With more than 12 million people estimated to be in the country illegally, either because they entered unlawfully or overstayed their visas, ICE does not have the resources to investigate every case. Agents must make judgment calls about which to pursue. Last year, ICE removed about 182,000 illegal immigrants as part of its enforcement efforts.

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of fugitive arrests and workplace raids in recent years, the report noted. According to auditors, ICE in 2002 arrested 510 illegal immigrants in workforce raids; in 2006 that number jumped to 4,383. The agency's Office for Detention and Removal Operations last year arrested 15,467 illegal immigrants who failed to comply with previous removal orders issued by judges, almost twice the 7,958 aliens arrested in 2005.

"ICE officials exercise discretion when they decide whom to stop, question and arrest; how to initiate removal; whether to grant voluntary departure… and whether to detain an alien in custody," GAO found. ICE places greatest priority on arresting and deporting criminal immigrants or those who pose a threat to national security.

When it's been determined that illegal immigrants are not known criminals or security threats, ICE agents may take humanitarian issues into account in their investigations. For example, agents may decide not to arrest people who are undergoing medical treatment or who are the sole caretakers of children or the elderly.

Likewise, ICE attorneys exercise discretion when settling or dismissing removal cases, or appealing decisions rendered by immigration judges.

Agency officials generally rely on training, field operation manuals, agency memorandums and the ICE work site enforcement guidebook to make decisions consistent with the law and agency objectives, but GAO found that those sources have not been updated appropriately.

"The current guidebook that ICE provided us in August 2007 does not instruct officers on how to identify and process aliens with humanitarian issues in large work site operations or otherwise," GAO said.

The report recommended that the agency develop time frames for updating policies, procedures and guidelines, and create a mechanism for informing officers of legal developments.

GAO also recommended that ICE consider establishing a system that will enable managers to analyze trends in the use of discretion to identify areas that may warrant further guidance or training.

The Homeland Security Department, of which ICE is a part, concurred with GAO's recommendations and said that next year the agency would reevaluate and republish existing policies, guidelines and procedures for arresting and removing illegal immigrants.

In addition, Homeland Security said by December it would begin evaluating the cost of and alternatives for developing standards by which senior managers can analyze and respond to trends in the use of discretion by field officers and attorneys.