Human Rights Violations Branch

Office of Investigations: Smuggling/Public Safety Division

PSA Awareness Video (MPEG | 8.92 MB)   Transcript (DOC | 2.28 MB)

From 1998 until the recent formation of the Human Rights Violators Unit (HRVU), human rights violator cases were investigated by the legacy INS National Security Unit (NSU). The HRVU was created to place a greater emphasis on investigating human rights cases, and is quickly becoming one of ICE’s top investigative priorities. A counterpart, Human Rights Law Division (HRLD) was recently created to provide legal and litigation support to the effort to remove human rights violators.

Many human rights violators have come to the U.S. in an effort to evade prosecution and punishment for the crimes they have committed in their home countries.

Many of the most egregious human rights violators residing in the U.S. are living and working among some of their victims who have sought asylum and refugee status in the U.S.

The HRVU, and its counterpart legal unit, the HRLD, have identified many active cases from several countries involving suspected human rights violators. These cases are vigorously being investigated and prosecuted. In addition to these active cases, legacy INS and ICE have successfully prosecuted and removed from the U.S. many other human rights abusers.

The creation of the HRVU represents ICE’s commitment to the removal of, and denial of benefits to, human rights abusers. ICE will work closely with the Bureau Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) to deny any potential residency or immigrant status benefits that these human rights violators may try to obtain in the U.S. The current cases represent a steady and significant increase since legacy INS first implemented special procedures for the handling of cases involving human rights abusers in 1997. Reflecting the continued identification and investigation of these cases, and the commitment of ICE to prosecuting human rights abusers, the current caseload has grown by approximately 50 percent in the past two years.

ICE has a dedicated corps of investigators and attorneys specifically trained to identify, investigate and litigate any human rights cases. Developments during the past year include: the first time the Government has brought genocide charges against an individual in immigration court, a guilty verdict against an individual for fraudulently concealing his persecution of political prisoners in his application for naturalization, and removals of human rights abusers, to countries including Haiti, Honduras and Croatia.

At present, the Immigration and Naturalization Act only denies admission to the U.S. to three types of human rights abusers:

1. Those who engage in genocide;
2. Those who commit particularly severe violations of religious freedom;
3. Nazi persecutors.

Aliens who have, “ordered, incited, assisted or otherwise participated in,” persecution are statutorily barred from admission as a refugee, from obtaining asylum status or withholding of removal and from Temporary Protected Status, but they are eligible to enter the U.S., to adjust their status to lawful permanent residence, and to obtain U.S. citizenship. To address these statutory deficiencies, ICE along with other agencies in the administration, is drafting a bill to more effectively prevent human rights abusers from obtaining safe haven in the United States.

ICE uses its current authority to find, remove and denaturalize human rights abusers, and has taken action to improve the handling of cases involving allegations of serious human rights abuse. ICE also works with the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division to pursue criminal convictions. In the regular course of its work, ICE continues to screen applicants for admission to this country to identify possible human rights abusers, to oppose asylum and other benefits for human rights abusers and to seek removal orders against them.

HRVU Mission

“To deny safe haven in the U.S. to human rights violators by bringing to bear a full range of investigative techniques and legal authorities to identify, locate, investigate, and remove human rights violators, torturers and war criminals from the U.S., and through proactive efforts, to prevent the entry of such individuals into this country.”

The vision of the HRVU is: No Safe Haven for Human Rights Violators. The U.S. will not serve as a safe haven for individuals involved in human rights violations including: genocide; war crimes; torture; and suppression of religious freedom.

ICEs’ HRVU will find human rights violators that may be seeking refuge in the U.S. by following leads and identifying perpetrators that may be living in the U.S. and abroad as well as:

• Conducting investigative interviews domestically and internationally.
• Identifying and conducting liaison with victims and witnesses.Establishing and maintaining working relationships with non-governmental agencies.
• Working with CIS to examine benefit applications for fraud and cases of identity theft.
• Researching and gathering documentary evidence.
• Coordinating closely with our Federal, state and local law enforcement partners.Coordinating with foreign governments and law enforcement agencies worldwide.

The HRVU team is currently working on a website where people and communities can access and provide information about human rights abusers who have fled to the U.S. ICE’s HRVU seeks to work with communities, victims of atrocities, nongovernmental organizations, and law enforcement agencies to gather information about human rights fugitives and to protect those that have sought refuge here in the U.S. Once such individuals are notified, ICE will present the cases for criminal prosecution where appropriate or utilize its HRLD to pursue orders of removal.

Worksite Enforcement

The landmark 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) legislation changed forever the concept of traditional immigration interior enforcement, making it unlawful to employ an individual without verifying the identity and employment eligibility of an employee at the time of hire, thereby shifting emphasis from the alien violator to the employer.

The goal of worksite enforcement is removal of the “magnet” that attracts or pulls many aliens to enter and/or remain illegally in the United States. Many illegal entrants and status violators come solely for the job opportunities available in the United States labor market. With effective enforcement of sanctions (a tiered system of civil money and criminal penalties) the pull effect is reduced and jobs are preserved for United States citizens and aliens lawfully authorized to work in the United States.

The current enforcement strategy is to focus primarily on worksite enforcement investigations that involve alien smuggling, human rights abuses and other criminal violations. Additionally, ICE continues to conduct administrative investigations of employers who are violating the law but do not meet the threshold for criminal prosecution. More specifically, these investigations focus primarily on employers who commit substantive violations of the employment-related provisions of the INA. Agents arrest and identify unauthorized aliens at the worksite only as a result of criminal and administrative investigations of employers, not as a primary targeting strategy.

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