How Immigration Cops Try To Trick You
Don't Be Fooled By ICE
Part 3 of a series about the rights of immigrants.
Part 1: What to do when ICE comes to your house can be found here.
Part 2: What to do if they have an arrest warrant can be found here.
Part 3: Today we will look at ruses used by Immigration Agents.
You should visit the site of the Immigrant Defense Project. I am going by the information they have given as well as information from Min K. Kam in the Columbia Law Review.
Immigrant Defense Project - Fighting for Justice & Human Rights for ALL
www.immigrantdefenseproject.org
ICE has a number of ruses they use to trick people. If you think immigration agents or other law enforcement agencies are so dedicated to truth that they would never lie to you, then you are nuts. Not only will they lie but they will consider it the right thing to do.
That might be understandable. If I’m trying to find a serial killer I’m going to hesitate to lie? Of course I will tell his mom “We just want to talk to Gerald about a small problem.”
I spent three years as a Warrant Issuing Magistrate working very closely with police, and even the good ones lie.
But we aren’t talking about some good cop who’s trying to protect the neighborhood by finding a psycho. We’re talking about immigration cops who want to send you, your Aunt, or your neighbor back to Guatemala.
“Ruses became an officially sanctioned ICE practice in 2005” reports Min K. Kam in the Columbia Law Review, so expect immigration cops to use them. ICE even has a handbook that teaches agents how to fool the public. According to Kim “the Fugitive Operations Handbook and various ICE training manuals carefully delineate an extensive list of permissive ruses from which agents can select when seeking to make a fugitive arrest”.(p.145,Kam CLR )
Their number one technique is to pretend they are local police and are investigating a crime. So anytime a cop approaches you or calls you on the phone, ask them what agency they work for. Then don’t assume they are telling you the truth. Plus, many local police departments are enforcing immigration laws, so act like anyone you talk to is ICE.
ICE agents often do not wear uniforms that identify them as ICE, though they might wear vests that simply say POLICE. That’s why you have to assume that any cop you talk to is ICE even if they won’t admit it.
According to the Immigrant Defense Project, common in-person ruses include the following:
“We are investigating a crime and we need to ask a few questions. Can we come in or can you step outside?” (Say no and talk to them through the door.)
“You are the victim of identity theft and we need to talk to you.” (or your son, daughter, etc.)
“Have you seen this suspect?” asked while showing a photo, usually of someone you have never seen.
Another of their tricks is to loudly call out a person’s name hoping to get a response. They can then attempt an arrest, claiming they have probable cause (a good and legally defensible reason) to believe the person who answered is the person on an arrest warrant. So everybody should remain quiet.
In one case discussed by Kam, ICE agents claimed that criminals were using the address of a house ICE wanted to search. They showed a picture of an unknown man and claimed that person was putting the family in danger. They were admitted to the house and proceeded to carry out a complete search, demanding identification papers from all of those they encountered. Several days later they reappeared and arrested a man who was in the US under the DACA program and had a misdemeanor conviction.
Misdemeanors and he had only one, not 34.
In her Columbia Law Review piece, Kam gives the following list of ruses:
Impersonating other law enforcement agencies;
Identifying themselves as the “police” or “federal officers” without further specification;
Wearing uniforms with only the word “police” on them without any additional visual marks that specify that they are affiliated with ICE;
Dressing in plain clothes;
Altering ICE vans by equipping them with ladders and tubing so that it no longer appears like a government transportation vehicle;
Carrying boxes and clipboards to create an appearance that ICE agents are dayworkers;
Carrying fake business emblems and cards;
Using fake photos to create an artificial investigation;
And posing as a delivery person or a hit-and-run investigator. (p.146)
Let me quote further from Kam, as she said it better than I could.
Accounts and testimonials show that agents have been known to ask occupants to review fake photos of “suspects” that are not known to anyone in the home;
Use a stranger’s photograph but the targeted person’s name when describing a criminal suspect, prompting residents to either invite the officer inside or locate their friends or family to correct the error;
Claim someone is using the resident’s name or address to commit a crime and requesting the occupant’s cooperation in the investigation;
Claim that someone in the house has been a victim of a crime such as identity theft or fraud;
And state that there is some issue, such as with the target’s car, that they need to clear up. p.147.
The Immigrant Defense Project says you should beware when you are contacted by the “police” and they say any of these things:
“POLICE, open up”: (Don’t open. Unless they have a search warrant you do not have to open the door.)
“We are the warrant squad” (Don’t open. Make them slip the warrant under the door.)
“I’m calling from [local court name] to confirm your address.”
“I’m calling from the District Attorney’s office.”
“We are looking for X, who is a victim of identity theft”
Another ruse it is important to be aware of is for ICE to pretend that their CIVIL immigration arrest warrant gives them the right to search for the person named on the warrant.
NOPE.
Read about that here:
ICE RUSES: FROM DECEPTION TO DEPORTATION — Columbia Law Review
An immigration arrest warrant signed by an immigration judge is not the same as a criminal arrest warrant issued by a regular judge. So when ICE agents say they have an arrest warrant and need to enter, say and keep saying “I do not consent to your entry or a search, please leave.”
As Min K. Kam explained in the Columbian Law Review, “ICE warrants are administrative in nature and therefore distinct from criminal arrest or search warrants. They are issued exclusively for use by immigration officers to arrest individuals who are in violation of civil immigration laws, not criminal laws. And more significantly, ICE warrants ‘do not grant the same authority as a [judicially issued] criminal search or arrest warrant,’ as they are not contemplated by the Fourth Amendment…” and “They do not authorize agents to enter the “subject’s residence or anywhere else affording a reasonable expectation of privacy”. (p. 143)
Kam goes on to explain. “(U)nlike criminal arrest warrants that authorize entry into the premises based on probable cause that the target is within the location, ICE warrants provide FOTs (agents) with no legal basis to enter the home, even if the agents know that the person subject to the warrant is inside.” (p.144).
ICE even admits this on p. 23 of their handbook.
But even if it is a civil immigration warrant, don’t physically interfere or they might arrest you.
In part 1 of this series we went over what to say to ICE agents when they come to your home (or to any cops if you have immigration concerns). This should be your go-to answer:
“I don’t want to talk to you now, and I don’t consent to a search or your presence on the property. Please leave.”
It is vital that you are CALM, QUIET, and RESPECTFUL. Your goal is to protect yourself and your loved ones, not blow off steam or to tell ICE to go fuck themselves. So stay cool.
If they keep at it, just continue to repeat “I don’t want to talk to you now, and I don’t consent to a search or your presence on the property. Please leave.”
Even if it kind of drives them crazy and they give you this face:
REMEMBER: It is not your job to help ICE do their job or ensure that they have a productive and pleasant day. It is your job to protect yourself and your loved ones.
And don’t show them any immigration papers. You are NOT required to do that.
In some ways it is a shame that we, immigrants and non-immigrants alike, have to deal with the police this way. In my experience (though I am a 66 year old White guy and so my experience with police is different from that of many people of color) most cops are interested in doing a job that helps our society.
But with Trump’s coming immigration sweep we now have to assume that any cop is Immigration. That damages our society because now we can’t assist the police in their attempts to protect our community. There is just too much chance that if a cop shows up at your house they are actually looking for somebody to bust on an immigration charge.
Which is why this anti-immigrant hysteria is so harmful. It makes the cops an even greater threat than before and so unable to be trusted.
If you are lucky you have a friend on the force, so if you do need the cops call up good old Benny.
The former Chief of Police in my town had a way to deal with the problem of ICE screwing up Police-Community Relations. He simply told his officers that the immigration status of the people in the community were none of their business. In the Chief’s view the police were there to protect ALL residents and it didn’t matter where you were from or how you got here. By being here you became a member of the community and you were entitled to protection. For that reason members of the immigrant community felt safe in talking to city police.
The County Sheriff’s Department that is still run by an anti-immigrant extremist, not so much.
In our next installment of this series we will discuss what to do if you are stopped in your car.
See ya then.