Additional Coverage:
ICE Briefly Considered Cash Bonuses for Speedy Deportations
In a surprising turn of events, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) briefly considered a program to offer cash bonuses to agents who carried out deportations quickly. According to the New York Times, the agency circulated an email on Tuesday outlining a 30-day pilot program. Under the proposed plan, agents would have received $200 for deporting someone within seven days of arrest and $100 for deportations completed within two weeks.
However, the program was abruptly canceled just hours later. A follow-up email from Liana J.
Castano, an employee of ICE’s field operations division, simply stated, “PLEASE DISREGARD.” A Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman denied that such a policy was ever in effect, telling the New York Times that “no such policy is in effect or has ever been in effect.”
The New York Times reported that the cancellation email was sent shortly after they inquired about the program’s existence.
Former senior homeland security official Scott Shuchart reacted strongly to the news, calling the proposed policy “ungodly unethical.” He questioned the ethics of incentivizing agents to potentially compromise individuals’ procedural rights, drawing a comparison to offering bonuses to judges for faster trials.
This news comes amidst a significant increase in ICE’s budget. Last month, a domestic policy bill boosted the agency’s annual funding to nearly $28 billion, making it the highest-funded law enforcement agency in the federal government. ICE has also reportedly offered signing bonuses of up to $50,000, and is actively recruiting new agents.