United States Immigration & Customs Enforcement in a Strategic Plan - Essay Example

United s Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a Strategic Plan Table of Contents Chapter1: Introduction 3 Background 3 ment of the Problem 4 Operational Definitions 5 Significance of the Study 5 Summary 6 Chapter 2: Literature Review 7 Pertinent Studies 7 Reflection 11 Summary 11 Chapter 3: Strategic Plan 13 Introduction 13 Restatement of Problem 13 Mission Statement 14 Vision Statement 14 Strategic Plan Description 14 Schedule for Performance Assessment 17 Summary 17 Chapter Four: Conclusion and Recommendations 18 Conclusion 18 Recommendations 18 References 19 Chapter1: Introduction Background The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal agency of America (US) entitled with the task of enforcing law in the most applicable manner. It acts under the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). There are over 20,000 employees associated with the organization in all the 50 states along with in almost 47 foreign nations. The primary objective of the organization is to provide better homeland security as well as public security by the enforcement of the criminal along with civil federal laws with the intention of governing customs, immigration as well as trade and border control. The management and administration of the ICE is accordingly entrusted with the responsibilities of various tasks, which majorly include preparing budget, managing expenditures, procure activities, human resource management initiatives and accessing information technologies among others. In this regard, the management and administration professionals of the ICE attempts to ensure that the mission and objectives of the organization are accomplished successfully. There are two principle operating elements of the organization, which include Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) along with Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). ERO is entrusted with the responsibility of implementing the immigration laws in a fair as well as successful manner within the US. The ERO ensures that convicted criminals, aliens and fugitives are removed as well as restricted from entering the US who poses threats to the national security. On the other hand, HSI is entrusted with the responsibility of investigating domestic as well as international activities in relation to illegal movement of good along with people in the US. In this regard, HSI performs various investigations in relation to immigration crime, human as well as narcotics smuggling, cybercrime and financial crimes (ICE, 2014). Statement of the Problem ICE has been facing the problem of immigration enforcement policy in an effective manner due to the fundamental reason that there are millions of aliens or fugitives who enter the US nation illegally. In this regard, it has been identified that the number of immigrants has increased to a large extent within the nation in the current phenomenon. The immigrants entered the US for various reasons, which mainly included family reunification, evading options for political unrest as well as civil strife and gaining economic benefits. Contextually, it has been identified that with increased number of immigrants in every state of the US, the chances of criminals as well as terrorists has augmented. In this context, the people immigrating in the US are recognised to violate the immigration laws (Siskin et al., 2006). The immigration laws that have adopted and implemented likewise, by ICE, is identified to possess certain political issues due to increased population of unauthorised aliens in the US. In this regard, the ICE faces adequate challenges in identifying terrorists and criminals amid unauthorised immigrants. Additionally, the increased number of unauthorised individuals in the US has led towards the development of illegal industry. Subsequently, it should be mentioned that the removal of the unauthorised immigrants from the US will adversely affect the economy due to the factor of decreased economical employees. It is in this context that altogether, the aforementioned factors have raised different political issues for ICE in implementing the immigrant laws effectively (Alaniz, 2010; Siskin et al., 2006). Operational Definitions Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) - ERO enforces immigration laws in the US in a just as well as fair manner. It also ascertains that convicted criminals and fugitives are prevented or removed from the US. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) - HSI scrutinises the movement of people along with goods in an illegal manner from international along with domestic context. Management and Administration - The management and administration of ICE comprise professional managers along with staff members entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring that the mission of the organisation is accomplished effectively. Detention Facilities – The detention facilities are located in different regions of the US where the unauthorised immigrants in the country are detained. Significance of the Study The study has been conducted with the intention of developing a comprehensive and rational strategic plan in order to mitigate the issues that are identified within ICE, which have been accounted for unfavourably affecting the performance of the organisation entrusted to protect the security of the US. In this respect, development of appropriate policies as well as plans in order to enforce the immigrant laws in a successful along with fair manner, so that the political issues in relation to immigrant laws can be mitigated. Additionally, the development of strategic plan will also assist in ensuring that the ICE performs its security operations successfully. Summary From the above discussion, it can be comprehended that ICE performs an important role in protecting the security of the US. ICE is also entrusted with the responsibility of ascertaining that civil as well as criminal laws are enforced efficiently with the aim of having better governance in relation to immigration, customs, border control and trade. It has also been identified that the organisation has faced with political issues in relation to immigration laws. In this regard, a strategic plan will be developed with the objective of ensuring that the organisation is able to protect the security of the US effectively. Chapter 2: Literature Review Pertinent Studies In the US, there has been the issue of increased number of unauthorised immigrants for family reunification, employment opportunities and to avoid political unrest. Owing to the problem of increased immigrants, ICE faces adequate challenges in identifying criminals along with terrorists amid the immigrant population, which might adversely affect the national security of the US. In this regard, literature review is conducted with the aim of identifying the problems that increased unauthorised immigrants pose for national security and employers. Subsequently, pertinent research of different secondary sources will be conducted in order to have an immense knowledge about the aforementioned issue. The research question used for the literature review will be, “what are the challenges faced due to increased number of authorised immigrants in consideration to national security and employers?” In this context, the literature review will focus on the different challenges that are faced by the professionals of ICE to ensure that the immigrant laws have been implemented in an effective manner. Moreover, the shift that ICE has made with the intention of minimising the number of unauthorised aliens in order to ensure the protection of national and public security of the US. ICE is also regarded as an important organisation accountable for ensuring the homeland along with the public security of the US (ICE, n.d.). According to Meissner et al., (2013), ICE has implemented various provisions with the intention of restricting or minimising the number of immigrants entering the US territory in an unauthorised way. Additionally, investments in this regard have been increased in order to ensure that the immigrant policies are implemented successfully. There are various provisions and investments have been made correspondingly, in the areas of border enforcement, ‘information and interoperability of data systems’, ‘visa controls and travel screening’, workforce enforcement, ‘detention and removal of notifications’ and ‘the intersection of the criminal justice systems and immigration enforcement’. Moreover, Meissner et al., (2013) have stated that different cabinet departments of the US, which majorly include the ‘Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the ‘Department of State’ (DOS) and the ‘Department of Justice’ (DOJ), have been integrated with the aim of developing and enforcing better effective policies in relation to immigration laws. In this regard, the federal law agencies of the US, with the development as well as implementation of the aforementioned policies, shall be effective in controlling and minimising the number of unauthorised immigrants in the US (Meissner et al., 2013). Assessing the recent phenomenon on this note, it has been identified that the number of unauthorised immigrants in the US has increased in an augmented manner in the corporate sectors of the US (Alaniz, 2010). In this regard, Alaniz (2010) has stated that the number of authorised immigrants has increased in the corporate sectors of the US. Respectively, DOJ and ICE have detained almost 300 employees for working with false identity. The corporate sectors in the US have also been criticised to have recorded an increased number of undocumented workers. Respectively, the organisation has shifted its focus from detaining unauthorised employees to the employers who are responsible for hiring them illegally, without documentation and thus encouraging such legally offensive practices. In this context, ICE has been implementing different guidelines in relation to worksite enforcement with the intention of maintaining the security of the nations against increased number of unauthorised workers in the corporate sectors raising concerns for national security and public safety. Subsequently, the managers, the owners and the executives of corporate sectors are required to follow certain legal and verification procedures in order to mitigate hefty fine along with imprisonment sentences for the recruitment of aliens (Alaniz, 2010). Moreover, according to Alaniz (2010), ICE has emphasized more on employers in the recent phenomenon. ICE investigation subsequently revealed that almost 45 business organisations along with 47 individuals were disqualified in previous instances from performing their business operations on the grounds of unauthorised immigration. The organisation also was witnessed to issue around 142 ‘Notices of Intent to Fine’ (NIF) during the year 2008 to discourage illegal employment through undocumented immigration of the labour force. Additionally, ICE has enforced several criminal along with civil policies relating to the employment of immigrants. Contextually, ICE imposes different provisions and regulations on the basis of which employers are required to recruit employees. The employers are provided with ‘Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9’ as a means of recording the information of workers. In this regard, ICE is able to determine the identity along with the employability eligibility of the employees employed (Alaniz, 2010). According to Rosenblum (2012), augmented number of unauthorised immigrants has increased the instances of trading operations of illegal drugs, weapons and contraband among other others within the nation. In this context, the aforementioned factors have raised issue in relation to national security along with public safety. Through its investigation, ICE has also proved that the number of unauthorised immigrants has augmented immensely in the recent years, which has posed increased threat towards to the people and the national security at large. Additionally, there has been an increase in transnational criminals, which adversely affect the geographic as well as jurisdictional complexities amid countries. In this regard, reforms have been adopted with the intention of minimising the entry of unauthorised immigrants (Rosenblum, 2012). Based on a similar context, Rytz (2007) stated that the increased access of immigrants in the US has posed immense threat to the culture of the nation. Moreover, the entry of unauthorised immigrants has also led to increased conflicts as well as violation of human rights of the US citizens in relation to their safety. According to Rytz (2007), the policies and regulations developed in relation to immigration laws are seemed to be ineffective in restricting aliens in the states (Rytz, 2007). Suggestively, ICE is required to formulate as well as implement effective policies with the aim of reducing the entry of unauthorised immigrants in the country, which has been unfavourably affecting public safety along with national security to an unignorable extent (Rosenblum & Brick, 2011). According to Rosenblum & Brick (2011), different effective policies are implemented by ICE with the same objective. Among these, ‘Secure Communities’ can be regarded as an important program implemented with the objective of safeguarding the communities. Secure Communities have initiated several jurisdictions with the aim of identifying unauthorised individuals. Additionally, individuals engaged with criminal convictions as well as different offences, which commonly include murder and sexual abuse, among others are also recognised. In this regard, the identified individuals, without appropriate lawful identity as residents of the states and having criminal convictions, are detained as well as removed from the country (Kohli et al., 2011; Rosenblum & Brick, 2011). Additionally, ICE has adopted the policy of Form I-9 as a procedure of verifying the eligibility and legal status of employees hired (USCIS, 2013). The report published by USCIS (2013) implied that the Form I-9 must be completed by employers in order to document information in relation to the identity along with employment authorisation of the labourers or workers. The form assists ICE in obtaining appropriate information about the eligibility as well as legal status of employees hired within the states. Subsequently, ICE, with the assistance of this form, is expected to be able to minimise malpractices often conducted by employers to recruit unauthorised individuals (USCIS, 2013). Reflection From the analysis of the aforementioned section, it can be comprehended that the problem of increased immigrants has adversely affected public safety along with national security of the US. Moreover, undocumented immigrants have also raised the issues of violation of human rights, drug trafficking and trade of unlicensed weapons as well as contraband goods. In this regard, ICE has devised and implemented different policies with the aim of minimising the number of unauthorised immigrants. The aim of conducting this literature review was to analyse the challenges faced due to augmented number of illegal immigrants and fugitives in the US. Contextually, the reforms and policies adopted by ICE have been assessed as quite likely to facilitate the organisation in reducing the number of unauthorised immigrants within the nation. Summary The literature review conducted in this study is seemed to be effective in having a better understanding of the research topic under study. It has been thus identified that ICE is an important federal body entrusted with the responsibility of identifying unauthorised immigrants and taking adequate measures for their removal. Additionally, ICE has devised policies of minimising the employment of illegal immigrants by the employers. Contextually, the literature review has been effective in providing adequate information in relation to the challenges faced due to augmented number of unauthorized immigrants. The review also aids in recognising the policies along with the regulations adopted by ICE with the aim of ensuring better public safety along with national security within the states. The implemented immigration laws have also been successful in reducing the number of unauthorised immigrants in the country. Contextually, ICE, with the assistance of the aforementioned policies, is successful in mitigating the problems of crimes in the country committed by aliens and fugitive. The reformed policies and regulations aid ICE in implementing the enforcement policy in an efficient manner in the US. Chapter 3: Strategic Plan Introduction Strategic planning is a procedure in accordance with which, plans as well as policies are formulated so that organisations are able to perform their operations successfully, coping with challenges that are likely to be witnessed in the course of action. Strategic planning is regarded as a process of making effective decisions in order to ensure that operations are conducted on the basis of mission and vision of an organisation (Simerson, 2011). In this regard, strategic plan has been formulated with the aim of assisting ICE in identifying unauthorised immigrants and adopt appropriate measures for their removal. Restatement of Problem ICE has been facing the problem of enforcing immigration policy in an appropriate manner due to augmented number of unauthorised immigrants within the US. It is worth mentioning in this context that in the present day, the number of immigrants has increased to a large extent in the US. Immigrants enter the country in an unauthorised way with the aim of family reunion, evading political unrest and obtaining economic benefits. In this regard, increased number of illegal immigrants and fugitives has raised the instances of criminal and terrorism activities within the country. Additionally, it has been identified that there is political issue of identifying criminals as well as terrorists amid unauthorised immigrants. It has also led to the recruitment of illegal employees and augmenting crime rates within the country. In this context, the removal of authorised immigrants from the country is seemed to unfavourably affect the economic conditions due to ineffective performance of business organisations for the lack of cost-effective labour. Furthermore, ICE and other federal agencies have faced adequate challenges in implementing immigration laws in all the states of the country due to lack of territorial integration (Alaniz, 2010; Siskin et al., 2006). Mission Statement The mission statement of ICE, with due concern to the increased number of unauthorised immigrants and crimes within the country should be reformed as the implemented policies are often criticised to be ineffective in restricting the same. In this regard, the mission statement of ICE is to safeguard national security, enhance border security, public security and enforcing criminal as well as civil laws appropriately. Vision Statement ICE is a federal body entrusted with the responsibility of developing effective immigration laws in order to ensure better protection of national security and public safety (FCHR, 2014). In this regard, the vision statement of ICE has been concentrated on becoming an important law enforcement agency on a national context by means of providing effective policies along with laws for identifying vulnerabilities and thus, reducing violations that might intimidate national security. Strategic Plan Description ICE is required to undertake a strategic planning with the intention of making effective decisions on the basis of which, plans along with policies will be formulated. In this regard, the organisation should ensure that it is provided with adequate funding, personnel growth as well as technology in order to enforce immigration laws effectively. The organisation should also be funded with appropriate amount of investment so that advent technologies are implemented and better enforcement programs are developed as well as supported for more effective and successful implementation. The administrative along with statutory authorities of ICE also needs to be promoted and trained effectively so that they are able to make efficient decisions for better protection of national security, infrastructure and people. In this respect, ICE is required to emphasize on enforcement system in relation to immigration. The enforcement system of the organisation is thus needed to be based on certain important aspects provided hereunder. Border Enforcement Travel Screening as well as Visa Controls Interoperability along with information of Data Systems Workforce Enforcement Immigration Enforcement and the Intersection of the Criminal Justice System Detention along with Removal of Undocumented Individuals The aforementioned factors are the major considerations that ICE is required to focus on with the intention of preventing crime, violations of laws, territorial breach and ensure proper examination of the immigrants entering the nation. In this context, data as well as information should be obtained about the aforesaid factors. ICE should seek that the employers follow the obligatory procedures of hiring employees after verifying their employability with the assistance of ‘Electronic Employment Verification’ (E-Verify) in order to mitigate the problem of hiring individuals without proper documentation. ICE also needs to follow appropriate procedures of identifying undocumented individuals immigrating in the nation so that they can be detained if appropriate or other necessary legal proceedings can be performed as deemed fit. In this context, the organisation should ensure that adequate investments are made in the aforementioned factors so that these policies are enforced effectively. The organisation, on ascertaining the reformed policies on the basis of which the factors will be offered with sufficient funds and other resources, should ensure that the policies are aligned with its mission along with vision statement to accomplish its goals successfully (Meissner et al., 2013). Moreover, ICE is required to conduct an analysis of the internal as well as external environments with the aim of determining the policies that shall be effective in relation to immigration enforcement laws. The internal analysis of ICE depicts that it is one of the important federal body accountable for safeguarding the national border and protecting the public. In this regard, the main objective of the organisation is to protect the nation from terrorism and illegal trade of drugs, finance along with people. Accordingly, external analysis will assist ICE in identifying the areas that the policies lack. Moreover, the organisation will be able to recognise the policies that other regulatory bodies, including ‘US Customs and Border Protection’ (CBP), have implemented for protecting border and national security. Respectively, the internal as well as external analysis will assist the organisation in recognising as well as reforming the policies that will be effective for national security. Additionally, ICE should adopt appropriate measures with the aim of ensuring that the emigration laws are enforced successfully (ICE, 2014). In precise, ICE should ensure that the management adopts efficient measures of motivating employees so that they are able to perform their operations competently for better accomplishment of its mission along with vision. In this regard, plans should be formulated for developing workforce with diverse culture. Moreover, the organisation is required to possess better fiscal principle, innovative information systems, sound budgeting along with transparency so that it is able to be an effective immigration law enforcement agency (ICE, 2014). Schedule for Performance Assessment The strategic plan developed should be scrutinised in order to ensure that the plans formulated are effective on implementation. In this regard, meetings should be organised by the management of ICE with the aim of ensuring that the plans developed are executed accordingly and determine the completion time. The management and the professionals should be competent in dealing with problems that arise during the implementation process of the strategic plan developed. Summary The strategic plan developed by ICE is likely to assist in enforcing immigration laws in an effective manner. Additionally, the formulated plans as well as policies will assist ICE to mitigate the problem of increased rate of aliens and fugitives in the country. ICE, with the assistance of the plan, will also be able to determine an appropriate way in accordance with which, the policies can be enforced successfully. Chapter Four: Conclusion and Recommendations Conclusion From the foregoing discussion, it can be comprehended that ICE is an important federal body, accountable for enforcing effective policies to protect the national security and ensure public safety. It has been thus identified that the immigration policies implemented have been somewhat ineffective in fulfilling the desired goals of the organisation, as the number of unauthorised immigrants has been evidently increasing in the recent context. In this regard, a strategic plan has been formulated and accordingly, internal as well as external analysis is conducted in order to identify the areas that the organisation lacks. Contextually, ICE, with the assistance of the plan, shall reform and develop effective immigrations policies for ensuring better protection of the national border in order to ensure highest extent of national security and public safety. Recommendations ICE, is a federal body responsible for protecting the national security and public safety. Keeping compliance with this motto, ICE should ensure that the immigration laws are enforced effectively so that the number of unauthorised immigrants is reduced and detained. Additionally, the organisation should work in an aligned manner with other immigration law enforcing bodies so that the policies developed are enforced effectively and successfully, which embarks a record of disputes with other authoritative bodies in the past history. The operations and polices of ICE should also be supported with adequate funds and competent employees in order to mitigate the problem of rising unauthorised immigrants in the nation (ICE, 2014). References Alaniz, R. D. (2010). Keeping illegal immigration issues on ICE: U.S. immigration and customs enforcement shifts focus to employers. Retrieved from http://www.accountingweb.com/topic/cfo/keeping-illegal-immigration-issues-ice-us-immigration-and-customs-enforcement-shifts-focus ICE. (2014). Overview. Retrieved from http://www.ice.gov/about/overview/ ICE. (n.d.). Secure communities. Retrieved from http://www.ice.gov/secure_communities/ ICE. (2014). U.S. immigration and customs enforcement strategic plan FY 2010-2014. Retrieved from http://www.ice.gov/doclib/news/library/reports/strategic-plan/strategic-plan-2010.pdf FCHR. (2014). United States immigration & customs enforcement- ICE. Retrieved from http://fchr.state.fl.us/index.php/fchr/layout/set/print/outreach/community_resource_map/district_3/hillsborough_county__5/refugee_immigration_services/united_states_immigration_customs_enforcement_ice Kohli, A., Markowitz, P. L., & Chavez, L. (2011). Secure communities by the numbers: An Analysis of Demographics and due process. Research Report, 1-20. Meissner, D., Kerwin, D. M., Chishti, M. & Bergeron, C. (2013). Immigration enforcement in the United States. Retrieved from http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/pillars-reportinbrief.pdf Rosenblum, M. R., & Brick, K. (2011). US immigration policy and Mexican/Central American migration flows: then and now. The Regional Migration Study Group, 1-27. Rosenblum, M. R. (2012). Border security: immigration enforcement between ports of entry. Congressional Research Service, 1-40. Rytz, H. (2007). Responding to the “threat” of unauthorised immigration? Current U.S. border control strategy at the border with Mexico and its consequences. Humboldt Journal of Social Relations, 31(1), 82-111. Simerson, B. K. (2011). Strategic planning: a practical guide to strategy formulation and execution. United States of America: ABC-CLIO. Siskin, A., Bruno, A., Nunez-Neto, B., Seghetti, L. M. & Wasem, R. E. (2006). Immigration enforcement within the United States. CRS Report for Congress, 1-75. USCIS. (2013). Instructions for employment eligibility verification. Retrieved from http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/form/i-9.pdf Read More