Election 2008: What’s At Stake?

Former ICE head Julie Myers. (Wikipedia photo)

Since its creation in 2003 as part of the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has earned a reputation for controversy. It is perhaps best-known by the news-consuming public for the series of high-profile raids on employers, the most infamous of which was the Postville, Iowa raid last May. Bad publicity continues to haunt the agency.

Shortly after Barack Obama’s election, ICE head Julie Myers stepped down without explanation. Some have speculated that she had had something to do with the revelation that Obama’s aunt was an illegal immigrant, but there is no hard evidence.

Myers, 39, was installed in a recess appointment in 2006 and approved by the Senate in December, 2007. The Senate had balked at her lack of experience, as had employees of the agency. Under Myers’ tenure, ICE’s reach and profile grew, as the agency aggressively enforced immigration laws. Myers, whom immigration hardliners had initially doubted, won accolades from anti-immigration group FAIR on her way out.

Human rights activists would disagree, especially when it comes the harsh conditions under which immigrants are detained and deported. Over the past year, we have had reports that detainees are drugged against their will during deportation, that they are denied medical care, and that some have died.

ICE has been one of the Bush administration’s most controversial agencies, and though few would argue that its mission is illegitimate, its stance has may have been overly aggressive. Now, as President-elect Obama prepares to take over, how will America’s approach to border security change?