About

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency of the Department of Homeland Security, protects national security and upholds public safety by targeting criminal networks and terrorist organizations that seek to exploit vulnerabilities in our immigration system, in our financial networks, along our border, at federal facilities and elsewhere in order to do harm to the United States. The end result is a safer, more secure America.

Organizationally, ICE has five operational divisions, each containing a number of law enforcement, intelligence, or mission support positions:

  • Office of Detention and Removal Operations (DRO)
  • Office of Investigations (OI)
  • Office of Federal Protective Service (FPS)
  • Office of Intelligence
  • Office of International Affairs (OIA)

In FY07, ICE enacted a multi-year strategy of improving immigration enforcement through more efficient management, focused enforcement efforts that target the most dangerous illegal aliens, worksite enforcement initiatives that target employers who defy immigration law and reducing the pull of the "jobs magnet" that draws illegal workers across the border in search of employment.

At the same time, ICE stepped up the battle against financial crime and the exploitation of legitimate financial networks by criminal organizations using methods to earn, move and store illicit funding needed to support their criminal enterprises.

Recognizing that partnerships are essential, ICE worked closely across agency boundaries with law enforcement colleagues at the local, state and federal levels and across international boundaries to form a united front against criminal enterprises and terrorist organizations that threaten public safety and national security.

Meanwhile, ICE continued to make the agency’s legal, management and mission support functions more productive, effective, and efficient in order to better support the agency’s law enforcement mission.

ICE 2007 Annual Report
Fiscal Year
2007 Annual Report

A Results-Driven Mission

ICE has achieved extraordinary results in its homeland security mission to ensure a safer, more secure America. FY07 marks a break-out year for the agency as ICE set new enforcement records, launched new initiatives and enhanced management functions. ICE can point to an unparalleled record of success in the last fiscal year.

Action: In FY07, ICE implemented a comprehensive interior enforcement strategy focused on more efficient processing of apprehended illegal aliens and reducing the criminal and fugitive alien populations.
Result: ICE removed a record 276,912 illegal aliens, including voluntary removals, from the United States.

Action: For the first time, ICE’s DEPORT center made it possible to identify and screen criminal aliens incarcerated in federal prisons nationwide to ensure their removal upon the completion of their sentences.
Result: 11,292 charging documents have been issued to criminal aliens housed in federal prisons.

Action: ICE targeted the infrastructure that supports the business of illegal immigration, including document and immigration benefit fraud, launching six new Document and Benefit Fraud Task Forces in cities nationwide.
Result: ICE initiated 1,309 fraud investigations leading to a record 1,531 arrests and 1,178 convictions.

Action: In two years, ICE has quadrupled the number of Fugitive Operations Teams (FOTs) dedicated to identifying, locating and arresting fugitive aliens. FOTs increased from 18 in FY05 to 50 in FY06, to 75 in FY07.
Result: ICE eliminated more than 100,000 fugitive alien cases and reduced the backlog of fugitive cases for the first time in history.

Action: ICE’s Fugitive Operations Support Center (FOSC), a nationwide clearing house for information on fugitive cases, continued to make the processing of data on fugitive cases more effective.
Result: The FOSC has resolved more than 73,000 open fugitive cases, allowing ICE to target those fugitives who are still at large.

Action: Through a more aggressive worksite enforcement strategy, ICE targeted the “jobs magnet” that attracts illegal aliens seeking employment in U.S. workplaces.
Result: ICE dramatically increased penalties against employers whose hiring processes violated the law, securing fines and judgments of more than $30 million while making 863 criminal arrests and 4,077 administrative arrests.

Action: ICE investigators worked to ensure compliance with the nation’s immigration laws among student and exchange visitors and other nonimmigrant visitors to the United States.
Result: 1,366 high-risk non-immigrant status violators were arrested.

Action: ICE investigated and dismantled the schemes that criminal and terrorist organizations use to earn, move and store illicit funding for their operations.
Result: ICE launched 3,069 financial investigations, resulting in significant increases in arrests.

Action: ICE’s Cornerstone initiative developed working partnerships and information-sharing strategies with private industry to target exploitation of U.S. financial systems by criminal organizations.
Result: ICE Cornerstone liaisons conducted more than 1,250 outreach presentations to over 20,500 industry representatives.

Action: ICE continued efforts to combat drug smuggling organizations.
Result: ICE investigations resulted in the seizure of 241,967 pounds of cocaine, 4,331 pounds of heroin, 2,731 pounds of methamphetamine and 1.3 million pounds of marijuana. Additionally, ICE investigations led to 8,920 arrests, 4,949 indictments and 5,539 convictions of individuals associated with narcotic violations.

Action: ICE continues to achieve new successes in intercepting illegal exports of weapons, military equipment and sensitive technology.
Result: ICE made 188 arrests and secured 127 convictions in these national security investigations.

Action: ICE worked with international partners in law enforcement to target money laundering, bulk cash smuggling and cross-border trade fraud.
Result: ICE Trade Transparency Units provided case support and coordination in transnational investigations and ICE agents provided training in combating cash smuggling schemes to more than 700 international partners.

Action: ICE’s intellectual property rights investigations continued to combat the flow of counterfeit goods and products.
Result: ICE made 235 arrests and secured 117 convictions in intellectual property fraud cases.

Action: ICE targeted the flow of precious cultural and historical artifacts.
Result: ICE launched 51 cultural property investigations and made 15 seizures of high-value items.

Action: A new ICE initiative targeted unlicensed money services businesses that illegally transfer funds.
Result: ICE investigations of unlicensed money service businesses yielded 39 arrests, 30 convictions and seizures of more than $7.9 million.

Action: ICE turned its combined legal authorities on the dangerous human traffickers who exploit the vulnerable.
Result: ICE human trafficking investigations led to 164 arrests and 91 convictions.

Action: ICE’s targeting of violent transnational gangs was bolstered by an enforcement surge in the summer of 2007.
Result: In FY07, ICE arrested a record 3,302 gang members and associates in cities nationwide.

Action: ICE targeted sexual predators who prey on children.
Result: ICE arrests under Operation Predator topped 10,000 in June 2007.

Action: ICE’s Federal Protective Service (FPS) was given lead responsibility for securing government facilities under the National Infrastructure Protection Plan.
Result: ICE launched a major mission refinement effort for FPS to focus on enhancing security at government facilities.

Action: ICE security and law enforcement officers provided services at approximately 9,000 federal facilities nationwide.
Result: ICE was responsible for approximately 3,000 citations and arrests, and intercepted roughly 760,000 prohibited items from being brought into federal facilities.

Action: ICE expanded its partnerships with state and local law enforcement agencies in a force multiplier approach to fighting criminal activity.
Result: The ICE ACCESS program was launched as a collaborative effort under which ICE agents work with state and local leaders to identify key crime-fighting needs and to develop action plans as a solution.

Action: ICE expanded a program to train and certify state and local officers to perform limited immigration enforcement duties.
Result: In FY07, ICE trained 426 local and state officers under the program and signed agreements with 26 new law enforcement agencies—bringing the totals to 597 officers trained and 33 partnership agreements since the program’s inception.

Action: ICE’s Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC) continued to serve as the national point of contact for providing immigration status and indentity information on suspects detained by local, state and federal officers in the field.
Result: The LESC responded to 728,243 requests for information from law enforcement officials.

Action: ICE’s Forensic Document Laboratory (FDL) continued to provide forensic document analysis and training to a wide variety of agencies in the effort to combat travel and identity document fraud.
Result: The FDL trained 3,810 federal, state and local officials in document analysis techniques and responded to 4,382 requests for analysis from the field.

Action: ICE increased the number of Border Enforcement Security Task Forces (BESTs).
Result: The task forces were responsible for 526 criminal arrests and 1,093 administrative arrests, along with seizures of $2.5 million in cash and significant amounts of narcotics and weapons.

Action: ICE’s team of attorneys provided legal support and training while representing the agency in administrative and federal courts.
Result: ICE attorneys participated in the completion of 365,851 cases before immigration courts, including 323,845 removal cases.

Action: ICE continued to improve financial management and mission support functions, ensuring that the agency’s administrative functions are effective and efficient in support of the ICE law enforcement mission.
Result: ICE increased its workforce by more than 10 percent, enhanced the agency’s information technology systems, expanded training and development, and improved contracting and acquisitions-while earning praise both inside and outside government for the agency’s improved financial management.

In each of these key areas and in many others, ICE enjoyed a high degree of success, while laying the groundwork for continued improvement in the months and years to come.

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