Blumenthal Presses ICE on Troubling USCIS Office Arrests

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) today wrote to Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leadership to express deep concern over reports that ICE agents are targeting undocumented immigrants for arrest and deportation at United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office meetings.

USCIS is an administrative agency, not an enforcement agency, and people who go to their offices seeking legal resident status expect that they will be interviewed in good faith, not targeted for arrests or other enforcement action. There have been numerous reports of such arrests nationwide, including detention of immigrants in Massachusetts at a meeting regarding their Green Card applications, a Cincinnati man completing a marriage petition interview with his citizen wife, and a Colorado man sponsored for permanent residency by his adult daughter. 

“If these reports are accurate, these actions represent a troubling shift in ICE practice.  Because USCIS is an administrative agency, when USCIS notifies an applicant of an interview, the presumption is that the government will conduct the interview in good faith. Instead, we have seen that the government’s invitation has turned into a trap for undocumented immigrants, who have been caught between canceling their appointment—thereby abandoning their application for legalization—and risking deportation by showing up. That is fundamentally unjust,” Blumenthal states in the letter.

Full text of the letter is copied below:

November 6, 2017

The Honorable Elaine Duke

Acting Secretary

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

3801 Nebraska Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20528

The Honorable Thomas D. Homan

Acting Director

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

500 12th Street SW

Washington, DC 20536

Dear Acting Secretary Duke and Acting Director Homan:

I am writing to express my deep concern over reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) agents are targeting undocumented immigrants for arrest and deportation when these individuals come to a United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) office in a good faith effort to obtain legal resident status. USCIS is an administrative agency, not an enforcement agency, and therefore people who go to a USCIS office for legal resident status have no expectation that they would be subject to deportation or other enforcement action.

I request that you provide me with details regarding the extent of this practice and the policies governing such arrests.  

There have been numerous reports that ICE has arrested undocumented immigrants at USCIS facilities. In March, ICE agents allegedly detained five immigrants at a Massachusetts USCIS office, at least three of whom were present for a meeting about their Green Card applications.^[1] In May, a similar arrest was reportedly carried out in Cincinnati, where an undocumented man was taken into custody after completing a marriage petition interview with his American wife.^[2] Just last month, a Colorado man, who was sponsored for permanent residency by his adult daughter, was arrested after sitting through a petition interview at a USCIS office.^[3] These reports constitute a pattern of arrests at USCIS offices that was not seen under the previous two administrations.

If these reports are accurate, these actions represent a troubling shift in ICE practice.  Because USCIS is an administrative agency, when USCIS notifies an applicant of an interview, the presumption is that the government will conduct the interview in good faith. Instead, we have seen that the government’s invitation has turned into a trap for undocumented immigrants, who have been caught between canceling their appointment—thereby abandoning their application for legalization—and risking deportation by showing up. That is fundamentally unjust.

Reports of these arrests have already bred suspicion and mistrust of law enforcement in immigrant communities. If ICE’s conduct continues, the heightened risk of deportation will further incentivize undocumented immigrants, who feel blocked from any avenues to legalization, to remain in the shadows—harming them and the larger American public.

In light of these reports, I request that you answer the following by November 20, 2017:

·        Is it an ICE policy to carry out enforcement actions—such as apprehensions, arrests, interviews, searches or surveillance—at USCIS offices?

·         If so, can you please describe the rules around these enforcement actions—including the conditions under which such actions would be appropriate? Can you describe when this policy was enacted, and why? Please provide the memorandum outlining this policy if one exists.

·         Does USCIS notify ICE about the date, time or place of any appointments, including those with undocumented immigrants? If so, which ones?

·         How many people has ICE arrested at USCIS offices? Please provide this information by month from January 2013 to October 2017, if available.