The Department of Homeland Security: the largest police force nobody monitors

[marmar]

from the Guardian UK:



More than 55,000 armed law enforcement officers operate inside of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as the foot soldiers of the mass deportation system. They work as you would expect any police force to operate but without even the semblance of oversight.

With an annual budget line item of $18bn solely for immigration enforcement the federal government spends more on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (BPE) than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined. Yet the systems to monitor the vast network of field directors, detention officers and arresting officers under its purview are either non-existent or wracked with the same corruption they’re intended to prevent.

When Terrence Kullom was killed at his doorstep in Detroit, it was an ICE agent serving a warrant that pulled the trigger. In immigration detention centers, over 150 people have died since 2003. A recent report highlighted not just a lack of transparency at the agency, but ICE’s outright refusal to cooperate or answer questions related to the deaths. CBS News reported that CBP agents allegedly sexually assaulted women or children immigrant detainees at least 35 times between 2012 and 2014, taking advantage of what an ousted CBP official characterized as a “culture of impunity”.

Each agent claims blanket authority to police, arrest, search, seize property, detain and yes, shoot to kill almost anyone, and they often act as judge and jury – with few limitations from immigration courts. DHS remains one of the nation’s largest jailers, holding up to 34,000 noncitizens on any given day in private and public detention centers. ................(more)

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/19/the-department-of-homeland-security-the-largest-police-force-nobody-monitors