ICE consists of three directorates to accomplish the agency’s mission, including Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Management and Administration (M&A).
ICE's primary mission is to promote homeland security and public safety through the criminal and civil enforcement of federal laws governing border control, customs, trade and immigration.
Catch up on ICE’s most popular news stories from the week ending March 25, 2016
ICE executes its mission through the enforcement of more than 400 federal statutes, focusing on preventing terrorism, immigration enforcement and combating transnational crime.
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The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Health Service Corps (IHSC) is the only entity in ICE responsible for providing direct patient care. IHSC is committed to providing high quality health care services to detained individuals involved in immigration proceedings, supporting ICE apprehension, enforcement and removal operations, and improving national and global public health.
IHSC comprises a multidisciplinary workforce of over 1,600 employees, including federal civil servants, U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) Commissioned Corps officers and contract health professionals. IHSC delivers quality health care in accordance with nationally recognized standards and professional peer-reviewed guidelines.
In fiscal year (FY) 2019, IHSC provided direct care daily to approximately 15,300 detainees housed at 20 designated facilities throughout the nation, including medical, dental and mental health care, and public health services. IHSC also oversees care for more than 22,600 additional detainees housed at approximately 112 non-IHSC staffed detention facilities daily across the country. In FY 2019, IHSC cared for over 217,700 individuals and executed a budget exceeding $278 million.
Dr. Stewart D. Smith is the Assistant Director for the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC), overseeing a multi-sector, multidisciplinary workforce of more than 1,600 employees, including federal civil servants, U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) commissioned officers, and contract staff. IHSC provides on-site direct patient care to ICE detainees at 20 detention facilities throughout the country and manages the provision of off-site medical care for detainees housed in approximately 112 additional Intergovernmental Service Agreement (IGSA) facilities.
Dr. Smith has more than 35 years of experience in the private and public health care industries. He began his career in 1976 as a Navy corpsman, where he flew medevac and provided shipboard clinical care. In 1986, Dr. Smith was commissioned as a Navy Medical Service Corps Officer. His assignments included serving as Department Head at Naval Hospital Long Beach and Medical Department Head on the USS Peleliu (LHA-5) during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Dr. Smith has also served in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Medical Plans and Policy, The Joint Staff, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, and the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM).
Additionally, he was selected as the first American to chair the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Biomedical Defense Advisory Committee and held that appointment from 2003 to 2005 while assigned to the Assistant Secretary of Defense and USNORTHCOM staffs. His private sector experience includes senior health care positions such as Division Manager at General Dynamics, Vice President at Logistics Support, Inc., and President and CEO for Emergency Preparedness and Response International, LLC. Dr. Smith’s recent assignments at ICE include serving as Chief of Staff and Acting Assistant Director for IHSC from 2013 to 2017.
Dr. Smith holds Master’s degrees in Epidemiology and Public Health with concentrations in Health Policy, Resources, and Administration from the Yale School of Medicine. He holds an additional Master’s degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College and a Doctorate in Health Sciences in Global Health from A.T. Still University of Health Sciences. An alumnus of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Executive Leadership Education Program, Dr. Smith has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, and book chapters.
He has held academic appointments at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Dr. Smith is a fellow in the Royal Society for Public Health, a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, and a certified correctional health professional.
