January 4, 2011, - 1:16 pm
DHS VIDEO: Obama Says Good-Bye, Immigration & Customs Enforcement; Hello . . . “HSI?”
Toward the end of last year, I posted a memo from James Dinkins, who heads what was formerly known as the Office of Investigations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He is in charge of all the ICE Agents engaged in investigations. The memo eliminated the title of Senior Special Agent, and many long-time agents are upset at losing their hard-earned title. As I also noted, the memo bears Dinkins’ new title, “Executive Associate Director, Homeland Security Investigations.” As many ICE agents warned, the agency will apparently soon drop the name, “Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” and transition to a new name, “Homeland Security Investigations” (HSI) further signaling the abandonment of immigration enforcement by the agency. Our friend, Bonzer Wolf, has more info on this.
Now, check out this cheesy new recruitment and public relations video, which recently popped up on the ICE website, and many not-too-happy ICE agents noticed:
Say Good-Bye to Immigration & Customs Enforcement . . . & the Enforcement of Immigration & Customs Laws
You’ll note that the two silly-looking, “Men In Black”-sunglasses bespectacled ICE, er . . . HSI agents are a woman with ’80s-style frizzy hair and a Black dude. That’s a major part of HSI’s new mission: affirmative action in recruiting women and minorities. White guys need not apply. The ICE people do everything for a reason, and there’s a reason that there’s no White guy stupidly marching around in sunglasses. I know a lot of ICE agents, and I’ve rarely seen one walking around in sunglasses. It’s like a bad MTV video from the ’80s. Very bad. Like “Night Ranger” or “Loverboy” bad . . . completely with semi-naked chick on a bed with her butt/crotch sticking out (who looks nothing like the sex slaves ICE investigates).
But beyond that, the video makes clear that Janet Napolitano has created for herself a new national police organization with no clear mission and definitely no clear limits. Much of what ICE already does–and what this new HSI will focus on–is duplicative of efforts already performed by other law enforcement agencies, including stopping child porn and thuggish gangs. Unless the gangs have foreign origins, like MS-13, local police can handle it. But this is the plan: HSI has no “customs” or “immigration” in the title and it can minimize its efforts in enforcing the laws in those areas and concentrate on other, more “sexy” areas. Lucky us. The video makes clear that HSI’s new position is not that there are “illegal aliens” or “illegal immigrants,” but, rather, the more politically correct “illegal movement of people and goods.” Huh?
The part where it says, “investigating: worksite immigration violations,” is kind of funny (and sad) when you consider that Janet Napolitano ENDED all worksite raids by ICE agents and started investigating the agents who actually did their job. As you’ll recall, agents were so demoralized by this that even Seattle ICE Special Agent in Charge Leigh Winchell took to e-mail to vent his frustration to and support for his agents, a story I broke on this site. Ah, I get it. They’re still “investigating” it, but won’t do much about it.
My favorite part of the video is, “HSI . . . we spend American tax money giving ugly gold earrings and sarcophagi to America-hating Egyptian Muslims.” I also love the part of the video in which Ms. Frizzy tries to seize someone’s t-shirt from the Superbowl or something. You know my views on that. And the “counterfeit” batteries? Since when is a battery with the name “Delancey” fake? A low-rent knock-off maybe, but not technically a counterfeit of anything. ICE legitimately investigates and seizes some fake goods, and often those goods are financing Hezbollah or HAMAS or the Chi-Coms. The same for some smuggled weapons for Islamic terrorists and the like. And for that I am thankful and appreciative. But, long ago, John Ashcroft signed away to the FBI control of all terrorism-related investigations. And since, pursuant to that and the glamor that comes with those cases, the FBI usually pounces on them, ICE often shies away.
The agency’s main focus was once immigration and customs laws and the enforcement thereof. Apparently that’s all going away now in favor of some undefined, amorphous personal, national police force for Janet Napolitano and Barack Obama. When the video announces, “Homeland Security Investigations–the Investigative Arm of DHS,” what it really means is “the personal police force of J-No.”
And that’s scary–as scary for the agents who work there (and are already so demoralized) as it is for you and me.

Tags: affirmative action, Barack Obama, cheesy, Customs, Department of Homeland Security, DHS, Homeland Security, HSI, ICE, illegal movement of people and goods, Immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Janet Napolitano, minorities, recruitment video, video
“King David”:
I usually hate to get involved in online debates, but reading your posts compels me to respond, because they are so misinformed. Although I despise the merger, and feel that things would be much better if Customs and INS went back to doing what they did prior to 2003, I take issue with your assertion that ICE is not a “law enforcement agency”. If that is true, then we were all badly misinformed when ICE was created, when we were told that ICE would include all prior Customs and INS authorities.
I was a Customs agent for 20 years prior to the merger, and after the creation of ICE in 2003, I continued to work in my area of expertise, namely, CRIMINAL investigations of money laundering and other financial crimes involving the border. I’m still an 1811 criminal investigator, because I never stopped doing criminal investigations.
I was totally opposed to the merger, for various reasons, but the merger didn’t change what I do, and my authority as a Customs agent continues under ICE, with the addition of immigration authorities, whether I use them or not. Don’t think that every ICE agent does nothing but adminitrative immigration enforcement, because we do plenty of other things too, including CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS involving violations of both Customs and immigration laws.
Senior Special Agent on January 9, 2011 at 8:05 pm