A new report from the Cardozo Immigration Justice Clinic entitled, “Constitution on ICE: A Report on Immigration Home Raid Operations,” is an analysis of the available evidence regarding the prevalence of constitutional violations occurring during ICE home raids. Through two Freedom of information Act lawsuits, the authors of this report obtained significant samples of ICE arrest records from home raid operations in New York and New Jersey. According to the author’s analysis of these records, together with other publicly available documents, there is an established pattern of misconduct by ICE agents in the New York and New Jersey Field offices. Further, the report shows that such pattern may be a widespread national phenomenon reaching beyond these local offices. The pattern of misconduct involves ICE agents illegally:
• entering homes without legal authority – for example, physically pushing or breaking their way into private residences;
• seizing non-target individuals during home raid operations– for example, seizing innocent people in their bedrooms without any basis;
• searching homes without legal authority – for example, breaking down locked doors inside homes; and
• seizing individuals based solely on racial or ethnic appearance or on limited English proficiency.

Follow link to report: http://www.cardozo.yu.edu/uploadedFiles/Cardozo/Profiles/immigrationlaw-741/IJC_ICE-Home-Raid-Report%20Updated.pdf

With these reforms, ICE will move away from our present decentralized, jail-oriented approach to a system wholly designed for and based on ICE’s civil detention authorities. The system will no longer rely primarily on excess capacity in penal institutions. In the next three to five years, ICE will design facilities located and operated for immigration detention purposes. These same reforms will bring improved medical care, custodial conditions, fiscal prudence, and ICE oversight.