ICE Celebrates 'Every Day Heroes' Who Helped Set Criminal Arrest Record

By C. Douglas Golden
Published December 8, 2019 at 8:11am

It’s been a record year for Immigration and Customs Enforcement — and ICE is celebrating the “every day heroes” who made it possible.

According to a report released Friday, ICE netted 37,547 arrests during fiscal year 2019 — a record for the agency.

ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, the report said, “effectively combated transnational criminal threats against the United States resulting in a record-breaking number of criminal arrests.”

“HSI is the principal investigative component of the Department of Homeland Security with more than 9,800 employees, including over 6,700 special agents and 700 intelligence analysts, assigned to more than 210 cities throughout the U.S. as well as 78 offices in 52 countries,” the report noted.

As the release states, HSI is responsible for investigating “financial crimes, bulk cash smuggling, cybercrimes, exploitation of children and child sex tourism, weapons smuggling and export enforcement, trade crimes such as commercial fraud and intellectual property theft, human smuggling and trafficking, narcotics smuggling and trafficking, identity and benefit fraud, human rights violations, transnational gang activity, counterterrorism and visa security.”

That’s a lot of responsibility — and, despite being hampered by the work of sanctuary locales, they were pretty darn effective. Arrests were up 10 percent over last year.

“HSI uses aggressive investigative strategies to disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal organizations that engage in cross-border crime,” acting HSI Executive Associate Director Alysa Erichs said in the statement.

“HSI special agents worked tirelessly to address threats posed by criminal networks to protect national security and public safety in the United States and around the globe.”

And by the by, in case you want to know exactly the kind of crime ICE stops, this paragraph ought to tell you a great deal:

Do you support ICE's work?

“HSI arrested 5,750 criminals associated with human smuggling investigations in FY19, a 41 percent increase from FY18, due in part to the use of Rapid DNA testing technology to detect fraudulent families at the Southwest border. During FY19, over 400 HSI personnel deployed to the southern border to protect children from being smuggled into the United States through fraudulent family units, often tied to larger transnational criminal syndicates.”

Agents also arrested 2,197 people purported to be involved in human trafficking and saved 428 victims.

That arrest number is again a marked increase, up 38 percent over the past year.

Another 3,886 were arrested for crimes involving gang activity, including 337 alleged members of MS-13.

“Great work by [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] Homeland Security Investigations team,” acting ICE Secretary Chad Wolf wrote on Twitter.

“They lead US efforts to protect children from online predators. In FY19 HSI agents arrested 3,957 predators & rescued or identified 1,069 victims. Every day heroes protecting our most vulnerable.”

Great work by @ICEGov Homeland Security Investigations team. They lead US efforts to protect children from online predators. In FY19 HSI agents arrested 3,957 predators & rescued or identified 1,069 victims. Every day heroes protecting our most vulnerable https://t.co/pR64IWD9r6

— Acting Secretary Chad Wolf (@DHS_Wolf) December 6, 2019

Were ICE critics satisfied? Of course not. Here were some measured responses:

Murderers!!!

— T J (@whateverlady23) December 6, 2019

And caged 70,000 kids as well as directly kill a few. So there’s that.

— Guilty Pleasures (@lifeandstuff247) December 6, 2019

Unhinged critics aside, these are great numbers — something every American ought to be happy about. Human smuggling, human trafficking, the narcotics trade — these are things that every reasonable human being should be against.

And yet, because of the left’s politicization of ICE’s role, this is either going to get ignored or get blasted.

That’s where we are right now.

These are “every day heroes.”

We should start looking at them as such.

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