[News] Leaked ICE Manual Shows Gov't Allowing Informants To Engage In Illegal Behavior, Impersonate Lawyers, Journalists, And Doctors
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Tue Jun 26 13:40:51 EDT 2018
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180623/17171740098/leaked-ice-manual-shows-govt-allowing-informants-to-engage-illegal-behavior-impersonate-lawyers-journalists-doctors.shtml
Leaked ICE Manual Shows Gov't Allowing Informants To Engage In Illegal
Behavior, Impersonate Lawyers, Journalists, And Doctors
by Tim Cushing <https://www.techdirt.com/user/capitalisliontamer> - Jun
25th 2018
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 9/11 attacks gave us the DHS
<https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20171223/10335338873/dhs-documents-show-harassment-intrusive-device-searches-are-common-occurrence-us-borders.shtml>.
And from that atrocity came ICE
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement>.
We used to get by with Customs and a Border Patrol, but no, we needed
something additional that tied the homeland's "security" to a new,
deeply brutal form of "customs enforcement." Normally, the word
"customs" would suggest the rounding up of illegal imported goods or the
collection of duty payments from incoming arrivals.
Instead, we were handed an agency that concerns itself mainly with
ejecting people from the country in the most aggressive way possible,
cheered on by White House officials and a large group of Americans who
view our closest southern nation with deep suspicion and a touch of
xenophobia. ICE's current activities aren't the fault of the Trump
Administration, but this administration has done more than most
<https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170130/00540836584/our-humanity.shtml>
to take everything that's bad about ICE (which is a lot) and crank it up
to 11.
Warrantless raids
<https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180428/20350639738/ice-performs-warrantless-raid-private-farm-draws-heat-state-federal-officials.shtml>,
misrepresentation of advocacy efforts
<https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20171015/11284138407/ice-now-calling-aiding-unaccompanied-minors-human-trafficking-to-bypass-sanctuary-city-laws.shtml>,
deporting critical journalists
<https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180524/16432539900/ice-trying-to-deport-journalist-reporting-abusive-ice-behavior.shtml>…
these are all part of ICE's playbook. But there's far more to it than
this. The official "playbook" for ICE undercover operations basically
allow the agency to operate as a criminal operation and engage in
illegal activity for the greater good of booting immigrants out of the US.
The guidebook for ICE's undercover operationshas been published by
Unicorn Riot
<https://www.unicornriot.ninja/2018/icebreaker-pt-5-confidential-homeland-security-undercover-operations-handbook/>,
which makes no statements about how it obtained this document. Its
Twitter account refers to it as a "leak,"
<https://twitter.com/UR_Ninja/status/1010251521618010120?s=09> which
suggests this wasn't the result of a FOIA request. Regardless of its
origins, it's a harrowing read. Many of the highlights of the 227-page
manual
<https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4555191/Ice-Undercover-Operations.pdf>
[PDF] can be viewed in UR's tweet thread
<https://twitter.com/UR_Ninja/status/1010251521618010120?s=09>. Other
details have been posted at its website, which takes a bullet-pointed
trip through the entirety of the document.
What is crystal clear is that ICE undercover operations involve
informants who are allowed to engage in criminal activity, including fun
stuff like trafficking immigrants, purchasing stolen property, drug
dealing, paying bribes, entrapment, and anything else that might be
deemed "necessary" to ensure the viability of an investigation.
Informants are strongly encouraged not to engage in violent acts or
entrapment, but given enough leeway to perform these acts if deemed
necessary. The only thing that changes is the number of government
officials receiving reports about these departures from policy guidelines.
If these sanctioned illegal acts happen to turn a profit, everyone wins.
ICE itself can partake of funds obtained through illegal activity. Some
of this is routed back to informants to purchase whatever's needed to
continue the investigation. In many cases, this means funneling funds
into purchasing supplies needed for further criminal activity. The funds
may also be used to fund ICE _itself_. It's perfectly acceptable for ICE
to use funds derived from the criminal activity of its informants to
cover ICE agent overtime.
ICE is also authorized to create shell companies as cover for
investigations. In ICE terminology, this is "backstopping" -- providing
a credible back story for ICE operations should they happen to be
investigated by their investigation targets. This ordained creation of
shell companies allows ICE operatives to obtain fake SSNs, brokers
licenses, medical degrees, pilots certifications, and immigration
documents.
The shell companies themselves are made possible/plausible with the
assistance of several federal agencies:
/Federally-issued undercover identification/backstopping for
undercover proprietary businesses and shell companies can be
obtained through the Undercover Operations Unit./
/Types of available corporate identification/backstopping include,
but are not limited to, the following:/
/A. Employer Identification Numbers (EINs) (Note: All EINs must be
obtained through the Undercover Operations Unit in order to avoid
tax issues with the Internal Revenue Service);
B. Dun and Bradstreet reports;
C. Department of Transportation/Motor Carrier numbers;
D. Department of Defense Trade Compliance Registration numbers;
E. Office of Foreign Asset Control License;
F. FAA airplane registration number/certificates;
G. U.S. Coast Guard marine identification; and
H. business credit cards./
Then there's the list of personas undercover informants can adopt, which
include priests/clergy, lawyers, doctors, therapists, and "news media."
Naturally, some of these roles involve the harvesting of privileged
communications -- even though the privilege is assumed by the person the
informant is conversing with and certainly not extended by those working
for ICE. But, as the handbook, points out, this puts informants in the
position of overhearing /actually privileged/ communications due to the
nature of the charade, which may find them conversing with /real/
lawyers, members of the clergy, doctors, and therapists.
This is referred to as "Sensitive Circumstances" by the DHS, an official
designation that means nothing more than a case-by-case review rather
than the blanket approval it extends to other undercover activities.
The guidebook, issued in 2008, may have seen some updates in recent
months, but it's unlikely anything was added to rein in ICE's condoned
criminal activity. Unicorn Riot notes it has confirmation this manual
was still in use as of 2016
<https://twitter.com/UR_Ninja/status/1010532533791019009>, so it's not a
relic of one particular administration. It apparently predates Obama's
election and quite possibly extends into Trump's.
This shows how far our government is willing to go to enforce its laws.
It will condone the breaking of laws in the name of enforcing them. The
handbook may as well be named "End Justifies The Means" -- a 272-page
compendium of acceptable means that would be unacceptable if anyone
other than the government were engaged in them.
--
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415
863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
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