January 3, 2008

Community Outreach

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seeks to build constructive relationships with community stakeholders through targeted community outreach across the country. Effective community outreach not only fosters community awareness and support for our agency’s mission and goals, it also enhances our own understanding of community issues emerging as a result of enforcement operations.

The ICE Community Outreach Coordinator is Kendra Wallace. Community questions, issues and concerns should be forwarded to her at Kendra.Wallace@dhs.gov or (202) 307-6402.

Key Accomplishments:

• ICE meets regularly with non-governmental and community-based organizations. The Assistant Secretary meets with community groups semi-annually to address their issues. The ICE Policy Director (along with other top ICE managers) meets with these groups twice a year to ensure progress is being made to resolve the issues previously discussed with the Assistant Secretary.
  
  These meetings are an effective communication tool for both ICE and the community organizations. To date, the following community issues have been resolved as a result of these meetings:
  
  
• (1) Detention Standards:

•  Since January 2002 , ICE detainees shall be provided with reasonable access to telephones during established facility waking hours. This telephone standard has been implemented in 214 detention facilities. To expedite implementation at our remaining facilities, ICE acquired additional resources for contract oversight with expertise in acquisitions and financial matters.
•  ICE contracted with a legal service provider firm to place an informational law li brary on a CD-ROM. These CD-ROMs have been distributed to all facilities that house ICE detainees in excess of 72 hours. Where computer service is not available, these facilities are required to have a physical law library on-site for use by ICE detainees.
•  On September 9, 2004, ICE approved and published a new transfer standard to address the transfer of legal mail and property of detainees.
(2) Know Your Rights Requirements: ICE detention facilities have been brought into compliance with the Know Your Rights requirements. The Florence Project’s “Know your Rights” materials were first distributed and implemented in May 2000. These materials are intended to assist detainees in identifying forms of relief, which may be available and understanding conditions of removability to prepare them for court proceedings. ICE expanded this requirement to include local and county jails and continues to monitor and work with these entities to ensure compliance with this ICE requirement.
(3) Alternatives to Detention:  In June 2004, ICE instituted the Intensive Supervision and Appearance Program (ISAP) in eight cities. This program includes use of supervision tools such as electronic monitoring devices, home visits, work visits and reporting by telephone. Case specialists assist participants in obtaining pro-bono counsel for their hearings and help them to receive other types of assistance to which they may be entitled. At the recommendation of the non-governmental organization (NGO) community, we coordinated additional asylum training for ISAP contract personnel. The contractor has also reached out to the various NGOs within the ISAP communities in an effort to redefine their curriculum to include in depth training on cultural sensitivity and asylum issues.
(4) Religious Services:  In Fiscal Year 2003, Congress appropriated $1.5 million to fund a religious services program at all eight ICE Service Processing Centers (SPC). On March 1, 2004, the contract was awarded to the Church World Service and Jesuit Refugee Service. The program has been implemented at all eight SPCs.


• ICE schedules periodic meetings as requested by the community to discuss specific programs of interest or to educate the community on implementation of ICE enforcement programs. Community meetings have taken place regarding the following ICE programs: Special Registration, Intensive Supervision and Assistance Program (ISAP), Worksite Enforcement, Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), and handling of Sikh detainees.
  
  
• ICE has opened the lines of communication in key cities such as Washington D.C., Detroit, Buffalo, Los Angeles, New York City, and Philadelphia and continues to expand its outreach activities in additional cities.
  
  
• ICE participates in a regularly scheduled interagency community meeting hosted by the Department of Justice that focuses on Arab-, Muslim- and South Asian-American community issues.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

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