Four immigration enforcement measures we can all agree on — even under Trump

The news media has provided extensive, national coverage on polarizing immigration enforcement measures taking place under the Trump administration, such as border apprehensions and the escalation of ICE activities in the interior of the country. But it hasn’t provided much coverage of enforcement measures that might have bipartisan support. Here are four that should be celebrated — on both sides of the aisle.

Joint Task Force Alpha: Transnational human smuggling networks “not only seek to profit from the exploitation of migrants, but also routinely expose them to violence, injury, and even death,” according to the Office of the Attorney General. Between October 2020 and June 2021, the Department of Homeland Security rescued more than 4,000 migrants who had been abandoned by smugglers along the southwest border. And it found 250 migrants in 2020 who had died during their journey to the U.S.

On June 7, 2021, the Biden administration announced the establishment of Joint Task Force Alpha, which would use the investigative and prosecutorial resources of the Justice Department and Homeland Security to investigate and prosecute the “human smuggling and trafficking networks that exploit and endanger migrants to the United States from the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, and from Mexico.”

The current administration has continued the Biden administration’s task force, and expanded it along maritime borders and the northern border with Canada.

Since its creation in 2021, task force activities have resulted in more than 483 arrests, more than 436 convictions, and “substantial” forfeitures.

Unaccompanied alien children: Most unaccompanied alien children who are apprehended at the border are transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which takes care of them until they can be placed with sponsors.

More than 479,000 children were referred to the Refugee Resettlement office during the Biden administration. When the office became overwhelmed by having to process so many unaccompanied minors, it relaxed sponsor vetting.

A Health and Human Services inspector general report on a sample of children released in early 2021 found problems with sponsor screening and follow-up procedures. In 16 percent of the cases, it says, one or more sponsor safety checks “lacked any documentation indicating that the checks were conducted.”

Among children released to sponsors with pending FBI fingerprint or state child abuse registry checks, 19 percent had files that were never updated with the results. Sponsor identification documents had legibility problems in 35 percent of the cases, and the Office of Refugee Resettlement failed to conduct timely safety and well-being follow-up calls in 22 percent of the cases.

The Trump administration has tried to locate these missing children, and has prioritized the prosecution of individuals who have submitted fraudulent sponsorship applications.

Exploiting foreign agricultural workers: In a press release issued Sept. 15, the Justice Department announced an indictment charging five defendants with engaging in a scheme to defraud the H-2A visa program. This program helps farmers to fill temporary or seasonal jobs when there is a shortage of domestic workers.

The indictment alleges further that the defendants did not comply with H-2A requirements and that they demanded payments before the workers could apply for H-2A visas or begin employment. And it alleges that they prevented the agricultural workers from leaving their jobs in the United States by confiscating their passports and threatening them with violence.

U.S. Attorney Margaret E. “Meg” Heap for the Southern District of Georgia said, “We will continue to partner with our federal, state and local agencies to protect these workers, safeguard the integrity of the H-2A program and prosecute those who turn a lawful employment program into a vehicle for profit and abuse.”

Homeland Security task forces: In his executive order titled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” President Trump directed the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security to establish Homeland Security task forces in all states nationwide. The order directs the attorney general, the Homeland Security secretary, and state and local law enforcement agencies to work together “to end the presence of criminal cartels, foreign gangs, and transnational criminal organizations throughout the United States.”

To date, there are 59 task force offices, with more than 9,000 personnel and 440 state and local law agency partners.

Opponents of the Trump administration’s immigration policies should not be opposing every enforcement initiative the administration establishes. Prosecuting human smugglers and violent criminal organizations, protecting unaccompanied alien children, and preventing foreign workers from being exploited are objectives that should have bipartisan support.

Nolan Rappaport was detailed to the House Judiciary Committee as an executive branch immigration law expert for three years. He subsequently served as an immigration counsel for the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims for four years. Prior to working on the Judiciary Committee, he wrote decisions for the Board of Immigration Appeals for 20 years.