National Security Investigations Division

Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Unit

"As the assistant secretary of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, I recognize the unique responsibility my agency bears in protecting those who came to our shores seeking to escape those who perpetrated such atrocities. With our partners within the Department of Homeland Security and in the Departments of Justice and State, we use every tool at our disposal to ensure that those who have committed such acts abroad never evade justice and accountability for their crimes by hiding among their victims here."

Prepared statement of ICE Assistant Secretary John T. Morton before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, October 6, 2009.

History and Mission

Prior to the creation of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as the largest investigative agency in the Department of Homeland Security, human rights violator-related investigations were undertaken by the National Security Unit of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service. Following the establishment of ICE in early 2003, the Office of Investigations formed a stand-alone unit to manage the national activities of the new agency in this particularly specialized law enforcement discipline. This unit is the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Unit (HRVWCU).

The unit mission is twofold. The first part is to prevent the admission of foreign war crimes suspects, persecutors and human rights abusers into the United States. The second part is to identify, prosecute and ultimately remove such offenders who are already unlawfully in the United States and who have committed acts ranging from genocide, torture and war crimes to serious violations of religious freedoms or other forms of persecution. In performing both missions, we work closely with our counterpart the Human Rights Law Division (HRLD).

In January 2009, ICE undertook the creation of the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center to further increase the efficiency of these complex investigative and litigation actions. Within this center, ICE leverages the knowledge and expertise of a select group of agents, lawyers, intelligence and research specialists, historians and analysts who direct the agency's broader enforcement efforts against these offenders. This agency-wide approach represents a significant milestone in the continuing commitment by ICE to target human rights violators and war crimes suspects. The Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center manages two ICE initiatives designed to more effectively employ ICE resources against these offenders: the No Safe Haven Initiative and the Human Rights Target Tracking Initiative.

The No Safe Haven Initiative

The United States has long been a haven for those fleeing wars, genocide, ethnic cleansing and various other forms of persecution, granting admission to more refugees and asylum seekers annually than any other nation. The vast majority of these people choose to remain here permanently and ultimately gain citizenship through the naturalization process.

Unfortunately, there are those who have perpetrated significant abuses against these refugees and asylum seekers who also seek to gain entry. Some of these offenders are attempting to evade prosecution and punishment for abuses they have committed in their home countries. Others seek to enjoy the fruits of their crimes in our open society. Frequently, they hide among those whom they once persecuted—falsely claiming to be victims of abuses that they in fact perpetrated on others. ICE's broad-ranging domestic enforcement activities occur under the context of the No Safe Haven initiative.

These efforts, involving investigative and litigation offices nationwide, support the broader national interest that the unlawful presence of those who have committed foreign human rights abuses tarnishes the long-held commitment of our nation to offer a place of safety and sanctuary to the victims. Further, because many are former officials of regimes that are (or were) potentially hostile to our nation and its interests, ICE considers human rights violators to be national security threats as well.

Because these offenders seek to blend into our society, there is no precise method throught which their numbers can be accurately estimated. Regardless, these cases represent an investigative priority for ICE, due to the gravity of their crimes abroad and the domestic national security implications. As of April 2010, ICE has over 200 active investigations and is pursuing over 1,000 leads and removal cases involving suspects from approximately 95 different countries. These cases are predominantly focused on Central and South America, the former Yugoslavia, China and Africa. They represent cases in various stages of investigation, prosecution or removal proceedings.

The Human Rights Target Tracking Initiative

ICE also works to prevent known human rights abusers from gaining entry into the United States. Using an 'intelligence-led policing' based approach, the ICE intelligence and research personnel work with their national and international counterparts in a coordinated effort to identify serious foreign human rights abusers and war crimes suspects residing abroad, and take the necessary steps to prevent them from successfully gaining entry into the United States.

A notable success was the interdiction of Isaac Kamali, who is listed in the top one-third of Rwanda's 93 major genocide suspects. Kamali, who was traveling on a French passport, was identified and prevented from entering the U.S. at the Philadelphia International Airport. Upon being returned to Paris, he was taken into custody by French judicial authorities. While a French Appeals Court recently denied extradition of Kamali to Rwanda, France is now considering charging him in a French court for acts of genocide he helped direct in Rwanda. Other successful interdictions include individuals who are known or suspected of committing human rights violations in Argentina, Bosnia, Peru, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Since formally undertaking this initiative in June 2008, ICE has been instrumental in preventing the successful admission of over 40 human rights violator or war crimes suspects.

ICE Combined Authorities

In pursuing foreign war crimes or human rights abuse suspects, ICE is uniquely situated to employ its combined authorities under both criminal and immigration law. Under existing federal criminal statutes, where the United States can exercise jurisdiction over the actual foreign offenses (such as torture, genocide, war crimes or the use of child soldiers), we work with our partners in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to seek such charges. Where we cannot exercise such jurisdiction, we pursue criminal charges related to false statements and material misrepresentations made by these offenders on refugee, visa, resident or citizenship applications. Where substantial monetary assets based on an offender's human rights abuses or war crimes are identified in our jurisdiction, ICE seeks to use its authorities to undertake the seizure of such assets. In addition to these wide-ranging criminal remedies, ICE uses its authority under U.S. immigration law in order to undertake the arrest, detention, and ultimate removal or deportation of these individuals to their respective home countries, so that they may face justice before their victims.

Since fiscal year 2004, ICE has made over 180 human rights-related arrests of individuals for violations of law related to various criminal and/or immigration statutes. Over this same corresponding period, ICE attorneys have obtained final removal orders for, and ICE detention and removal officers have successfully removed over 300 known or suspected human rights violators from the United States. Many of these individuals were in removal proceedings before the creation of ICE, and the success that ICE has enjoyed in effecting these removals demonstrates the agency's long-term commitment to this objective.

Significant Success Stories

For more information on successful Human Rights Violators investigations, visit our fact sheet.

Protecting the Integrity of Our Immigration Laws

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), those who "ordered, incited, assisted or otherwise participated in persecution" are barred from gaining admission into the United States as a refugee, from obtaining asylum status or from obtaining Temporary Protected Status. However, in some instances, these individuals are potentially eligible to enter the United States on other grounds, and to subsequently adjust their status to lawful permanent residence or even obtain citizenship. As part of the 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA), Congress partially remedied this problem. Section 5501 of the IRTPA amended the INA to include participation in torture or extrajudicial killings as grounds of inadmissibility and deportability. Further, Congress made this provision of the INA retroactive, so that human rights violators who had previously been granted legal status in the United States could now face having that status revoked in immigration court. ICE quickly moved to implement this change in law, using it as the grounds to successfully deport a former Ethiopian army officer who was directly involved in torturing suspected political opponents under the repressive Mengistu Regime. More recently, under the Child Soldiers Accountability Act of 2008, Congress again amended Section 212 (a) (3) of the INA to add either the recruitment or use of child soldiers as an additional ground of inadmissibility or removability.

ICE Global Partnerships in Human Rights Enforcement

As the primary investigative agency for these offenses within the United States, ICE helps direct the broader government-wide effort to identify, prosecute and remove these individuals from our shores. Our key partners within DOJ include the newly organized Human Rights and Special Prosecution Section, the Counter-Terrorism Section, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as the U.S. Attorney's offices nationwide. We also work closely with a number of different bureaus and offices in the U.S. Department of State. Within DHS, we partner with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

ICE has a global footprint on these issues as well. Through our 54 ICE attaché offices in over 40 countries, we maintain partnerships with a variety of foreign law enforcement organizations or judicial bodies who share our goals with respect to identifying and prosecuting serious human rights abusers. Finally, ICE maintains close contacts with a number of international or regional organizations who are active in this same effort, including Interpol, the International Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, and the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Supporting U.S. Efforts to Promote the Rule of Law

Finally, ICE plays a key role in effecting justice for human rights abusers in their home jurisdictions. Two separate proceedings before the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina involve suspects who were previously located and arrested by ICE in the United States and who were returned to face trial for their involvement in war crimes. Both cases (Prosecutor v. Milorad Trbic and the Prosecutor v. Bozic, et al) involve allegations of direct participation in murders and other human rights abuses following the capture of Srebrenica by Bosnian Serb military forces in July 1995. Milorad Trbic was the Deputy Chief of Security of the Zvornik Infantry Brigade in July 1995 - and was previously arrested by ICE in High Point, North Carolina. After pleading guilty to criminal visa fraud in 2004, he was turned over to international war crimes investigators from the ICTY. He was subsequently charged with genocide and his case was transferred from the Hague to the State Court in Sarajevo in 2007. On 16 October 2009, he was found guilty of genocide by the State Court and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Zdravko Bozic and Mladen Blagojevic were military police officers in the Bratunac Infantry Brigade in July 1995 - and were arrested by ICE in Phoenix, Arizona. After pleading guilty to criminal visa fraud, both were transferred back to Bosnia. In November 2008, Blagojevic was convicted by the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and sentenced to seven years for his participating in 'crimes against humanity' related to his role in the Srebrenica killings. Bozic was subsequently found not guilty due to insufficient evidence of his involvement in the crimes.

Supporting Argentina's ongoing efforts to account for criminal acts during their so-called 'Dirty War,' ICE undertook the arrest, conviction and removal of Ernesto Barreiro, a former major in the Argentine army who is accused of being the former chief interrogator of the infamous La Perla detention center. At the time of his arrest by ICE, Barreiro was residing in Northern Virginia. He was convicted of visa fraud for failing to disclose his prior arrest for human rights abuses in Argentina. He was successfully removed from the United States in October 2007. In May 2008, he was indicted by Argentine Federal authorities for his role in human rights abuses at La Perla and remains in custody awaiting trial.

No 'Safe Haven' Remains Our Vision

The ultimate goal of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is to ensure that foreign human rights abusers and war crimes suspects never regard the shores of the United States as a 'safe haven' where they can enjoy impunity from the crimes they committed elsewhere. Across the wide spectrum of agency offices and programs, subject matter experts apply their hard-won experience in this field to maximize our efficiency and effectiveness in conducting these important investigations. Our agency efforts are further leveraged through the continuing close cooperation we maintain with a broad array of governmental, national and international law enforcement partners. We also actively engage in outreach activities among a wide variety of non-governmental organizations related to international human rights as well. Simply put, ICE remains committed to the common goal of civilized humanity: that war criminals and human rights abusers must never expect that their acts will to go unnoticed or that their crimes will go unpunished - regardless of how long ago they occurred, or how far away the perpetrators have managed to flee.