Over the past year, issues regarding immigration have consumed a
great part of our nation’s attention. The U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE), created in 2003, serves as
the primary investigative agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security (DHS). ICE is responsible for enforcing our
country’s immigration laws and its agents are the ones who
arrest and remove illegal aliens, fugitives, and persons who
illegally crossed our borders. Currently, ICE has 400 offices and
more than 20,000 law enforcement and support personnel.
Some Statistics For Context
According to DHS reports, as of January 1, 2015, an estimated 12
million aliens resided in the United States. The 2016 Office of
Immigration Statistics annual report (OIS 2016 annual report) noted
that 15 percent more aliens were apprehended in 2016 than in 2015,
mostly attributable to persons entering from the Northern Triangle
of Central America (i.e. El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras).
