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AB 937
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<br />AB 937 helps California realize its promise of protecting immigrant rights and reforming our
<br />criminal justice system. . .. Immigration Detainees can find themselves housed in county jails
<br />and even private facilities anywhere in America, facilities beyond the oversight and
<br />accountability of the state of California where abuse and neglect is well documented. All
<br />Californians, regardless of citizenship status, should get the chance to reintegrate back into
<br />their communities and reunite with their families when they have paid their debt to society.
<br />ICE regularly employs methods that range between inhumane and illegal. ICE was created in
<br />response to the tragic events of September 11, 2001, with a stated mission to protect the United
<br />States from cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threaten national security and public
<br />safety. However, critics claim that the agency has gained a notorious record of abuse, illegality,
<br />waste, and ineffectiveness in carrying out its intended purpo se. ICE’s abusive tactics are well-
<br />documented. They include the separation of toddlers from their parents, forced sterilization, and
<br />inhumane treatment in facilities. ICE has therefore earned a reputation amongst immigration
<br />advocates as a dishonest and racist agency that regularly ignores legal limits. (See, e.g., Ms. L. v.
<br />ICE (S.D. Cal.) No. 3:18-cv-00428, filed February 26, 2018; Flores v. Garland (C.D. Cal.), No.
<br />2:85-cv-04544-DMG-AGR, filed June 26, 2020; Crew et al. v. ICE (D.D.C.), No. 1:20-cv-
<br />03120, filed October 29, 2020.)
<br />ICE under the Obama administration. Immigration advocates began criticizing ICE during the
<br />George W. Bush. However, it was during the Obama administration that internal removal of
<br />immigrants by ICE reached what was then an all-time high. The Obama administration removed
<br />approximately 1,242,486 immigrants from the interior of the United States during its full eight
<br />years, averaging 155,311 removals per year. Data from the earlier Bush administration are
<br />more speculative, but they show an increase in deportations during the last half of President
<br />Bush’s administration. This increase continued during President Obama’s first term, before
<br />flattening and, finally, dropping rapidly in his second term. During his second term, President
<br />Obama responded to the outcry against the high rates of deportation, which led to a pronounced
<br />shift in focus to the removal of recent border crossers and criminals, rather than ordinary status
<br />violators apprehended in the interior of the U.S. As a result, interior removals decreased sharply
<br />from 181,798 in FY 2009 to 65,332 in FY 2016. Nevertheless, border removals stayed high and
<br />increased, from 207,525 to 279,022 over the same period . (See Transactional Records Access
<br />Clearinghouse, The Role of ICE Detainers Under Bush and Obama (Feb. 1, 2016), available at
<br />https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/458/.) President Obama summarized this later policy as:
<br />“Felons, not families. Criminals, not children. Gang members, not a mom who’s working hard to
<br />provide for her kids.” (See Barack Obama, Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation on
<br />Immigration (Nov. 20, 2014), available at https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-
<br />office/2014/11/20/remarks-president-address-nation-immigration.)
<br />ICE’s changed priorities under the Trump administration. The Trump administration,
<br />however, changed the federal government’s immigration enforcement priorities and tactics.
<br />Many of those changes emanate from Executive Order 13768: “Enhancing Public Safety in the
<br />Interior of the United States,” which President Trump issued on January 25, 2017, five days after
<br />taking office. (Executive Order No. 13768, 82 Fed. Reg. 8799.) President Trump largely echoed
<br />President Obama in his rhetoric regarding his immigration enforcement priorities, stating that he
<br />intended to focus on criminals. His actual policies, however, dramatically expanded the list of
<br />immigration enforcement priorities to include virtually every undocumented person. Pursuant to
<br />executive orders from President Trump, on February 20, 2017, Department of Homeland
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