In the largest office of the FBI, that of New York, around 80 agents of 1,000 will devote themselves fully to pursue undocumented immigrants. In Atlanta, they will be almost half of all there are. And so in 25 cities throughout the country, according to internal guidelines that have reported numerous local media. It is a change that has been insinuating since Donald Trump came triumphant to return to the White House and began directing federal agents of the anti -narcotics bodies (DEA) or the Office of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to support migratory raids led by the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE). It is now confirmed that in the new Trump era the National Investigation Police, in charge of not only investigating violations of the Federal Law, but also to protect the country from terrorist attacks, acts of foreign espionage, will pass immigrants to be deported as the first objective.
The Department of Justice has decided that some 2,000 of its federal agents, 45% of the FBI, will be recruited to help the National Security Department (DHS) to find and stop undocumented people during the rest of the year, as reported by means. Although the operational change has not been officially announced, the proposal comes when the Trump administration has reduced numerous types of white collar crimes investigations, including foreign corruption, money laundering in the cryptocurrency industry or the lobbying Illicit Foreign of American officials. It is feared that the most recent order to transfer even more resources from efforts against terrorism, counterintelligence, or fraud investigations.
“As you know, we have been actively participating in the efforts to apply immigration in coordination with our partners of the Department of Justice and National Security,” says a memorandum of a senior FBI official addressed to the managers who was obtained by NBC News. “From this week, we will have to see an increase in the operational rhythm in its immigration efforts. The Department of Justice awaits a significant increase in the number of agents participating in the application operations of the immigration law,” continues the guideline.
According to the same medium, an FBI officer estimated that the vast majority of agents felt uncomfortable with being part of immigration operations, claiming that ICE does not meticulously plan arrest operations in the same way as them. “This is not what we do, it is a bad idea,” said the official, who spoke with NBC on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. “If this were a Democratic Administration, I would be saying that this is wrong, that we should not be doing this,” he added.
While immigration is DHS jurisdiction, under the current command of Kristi Noem, so far in Trump’s second presidency other federal agencies have been recruited to support their work. In most cases, federal agents act as “force multipliers”, ensuring the scene for immigration agents who actively pursue undocumented immigrants. This has been justified by the relatively low number of ICE migratory agents. It is not clear the level of prominence that the new special forces will take from now on, but it is expected to be much greater, since it has been reported that the teams will work seven days a week and must present their plans as soon as possible.
The turn in the FBI priorities towards immigration is framed within a broader transformation led by its director, Kash Patel, a loyal Trumpist who has been an agitator and propagandist of Conspirations of Qanon. Before his appointment, Patel had been very critical of the Federal Police agency and had advocated a radical reform, as well as he has defended reprisals against adversary assumptions. The recent arrest of Milwaukee Judge (Wisconsin) Hannah Dugan for allegedly obstructing an arrest operation of a migrant, or the arrests of proper students who have shaken several universities in the country, can be interpreted as the implementation of these repressive measures.
The FBI under Patel and Trump has expressed that change in priorities publicly by transferring resources towards the fight against illegal immigration, drug trafficking and violent crimes. Patel also said that the FBI will begin to relocate about 1,500 employees outside the Washington Metropolitan Region between the next six and nine months. “We want to send our agents to the country to combat violent crime where it really happens,” he added, although he has not yet been officially revealed where the affected agents will be reallocated.
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