June 30, 2018

Trump Defends ICE as Thousands Across the Country Protest Family Separation

“So brave!”

Ting Shen/Xinhua via ZUMA Wire

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As protesters across the country today demand that children be reunited with their families on the southwest US border, President Donald Trump defended the work of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The agency is under mounting pressure amid a string of recent developments that have put ICE in a less-than-flattering light.

Earlier this week, the Texas Observer reported that 19 senior ICE investigators asked DHS Secretary Kristjen Nielsen to spin the Homeland Security Investigations division out of ICE. “HSI’s investigations have been perceived as targeting undocumented aliens, instead of the transnational criminal organizations that facilitate cross border crimes impacting our communities and national security,” wrote 19 special agents in charge, adding that “the perception of HSI’s investigative independence is unnecessarily impacted by the political nature” of immigration enforcement. “Many jurisdictions continue to refuse to work with HSI because of a perceived linkage to the politics of civil immigration.”

On Thursday, as former ICE Spokesman James Schwab was giving an interview to a Bay Area television station, agents from the Department of Homeland Security interrupted the interview to question Schwab about whether he leaked information about ICE enforcement operations to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf back in February, prompting her to make a public warning about upcoming raids. Schwab resigned after the fallout, saying he could no longer “lie” about enforcement operations.

The following day, the DHS Inspector General’s Office issued a blistering report about ICE detention facilities, alleging that a lack of consistent oversight has led to “well-documented deficiencies that facilities commit to fixing routinely remain uncorrected for years” and “facilities failing to notify ICE about alleged or proven sexual assaults.”

The heightened attention to ICE has also come from people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the upset winner of a New York City primary earlier this week, who has led the calls to abolish the agency and reorganize immigration enforcement in the US. Several other prominent Democrats have joined her call, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio. Trump’s tweet Saturday morning says “it will never happen.”

To the great and brave men and women of ICE, do not worry or lose your spirit. You are doing a fantastic job of keeping us safe by eradicating the worst criminal elements. So brave! The radical left Dems want you out. Next it will be all police. Zero chance, It will never happen!

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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