Quotas, collateral damage ... The methods of the American migration police

"Happy hunting", "Guys have a lot of fun" ... While Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the US migration police, is preparing one of the biggest raids in its history in 2017, the agents exchange perky messages, even evoking a "fun" operation, which they ironically nickname "Operation Mega".

Among other things, this is revealed by the thousands of documents obtained by the Mijente and Detention Watch Network human rights associations, made public on Wednesday 3 July under the name "ICE Papers". Both associations were able to access this data on behalf of the "Freedom of Information Act" - which requires federal agencies to send their documents to anyone who applies for them in the name of the right to information.

The biggest raid in the history of the agency

These archives shed light on the backstage of a massive raid planned in September 2017 against undocumented migrants living in the United States. "The biggest operation of this type in the history of ICE," according to one of the documents. Between 8,400 and 10,000 illegal immigrants were to be apprehended in joint interventions involving 24 local ICE offices. The operation was finally canceled after leaks in the press a week before the operation.

An email dated August 2017 mentions the existence of arrest quotas for some local offices. An officer claims that the Salt Lake City office has "240 targets" at his disposal. Another email asks Austin to have "30 targets" adding that "reaching this number" could potentially be complicated.

One of the ICE spokespersons, questioned by the Guardian, dismissed the existence of quotas and claimed that these operations were "not based on competition or the need to reach a certain threshold".

The ongoing threat of mass raids for mass deportations made it necessary for us to understand the workings of ICE's mass raid operations. We have confirmed that ICE ops are politically motivated and not at all about national security, as the administration claims.

Traditionally, ICE has been instructed to target, arrest and expel those in an irregular situation who have committed crimes or serious offenses in the United States. In recent years, the federal agency has become accustomed to focusing on those who commit minor offenses such as speeding or cycling without light. However, the documents clearly demonstrate that the agency is not only targeting undocumented persons with criminal records. If these remain the priority target of the ICE, she does not hesitate to call certain arrests "collateral".

ICE used arrest quotas and a suspicion of being a target for deportation. ICE also places local target quotas at local ICE Field Offices. To get higher numbers, agents were expected to arrest "collaterals" encountered in the operation.

"The way these lists are created is terrifying," says Jacinta Gonzalez, one of Mijente's Guardian members. "These documents show how politically motivated these raids are and they also show that the focus is on numbers, not security."

Inhuman words

The documents obtained by Mijente also show the vocabulary used by the agents for the preparation and conduct of these raids: "Happy hunting and search targets" about the upcoming arrest of 240 people. Or a Texan official congratulating his teams: "You manage guys!" To which one replies to him: "Thank you, the guys have a lot of fun".

Remarks in the secret group of Border Patrol created in 2016 and which brings together 9,000 people, or half of the current workforce of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), responsible for monitoring US borders. Baptized "I am 10-15" of the code name which means "foreigners in detention", the group describes itself as a forum "funny" and "serious" allowing customs officers, former or current, to discuss "only" their work . But user comments are mostly ironic or insulting, especially about migrants who have died while in detention, or against young MP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, according to ProPublica, which has published several of these problematic messages.

For Jacinta Gonzalez de Mijente, these revelations suggest a systemic problem within federal immigration agencies: "This problem is department-wide [they are repeating inhumane and insulting things to dehumanize"] their targets.

ICE spokesperson said in an email that the agency "does not tolerate the use of offensive or politically charged language, referring to law enforcement operations," adding that any officer surprised to commit these facts would be punished.

A model of action for future evictions?

If "this greatest raid of history" never took place, these lists of targets were used for similar operations and on a smaller scale in the months that followed, we also learn the documents of Mijente.

Here's some of what we found:

ICE used arrest quotas & anyone suspected of being a target for deportation

Although Operation Mega was the largest ICE planned HQ raid, they conducted multiple national operations in 2017 with the same plans.

Data characteristic of the ICE methods, while Donald Trump announced June 18 that his administration was expelling millions of illegal immigrants: "Next week the ICE will start to expel the millions of illegal aliens who have entered from illicit way in the US They will be returned as quickly as they arrive, "said the US president in a tweet carried away which is customary.

There are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, mainly from Mexico and Central America.