Combined Reference: Unmerge ICE;
Creation of ICE and the Homeland Security Act (2002–2003)
Who We Are — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
https://www.ice.gov/about-ice
What Is ICE and What Does It Do? — USAFacts
https://usafacts.org/articles/what-is-ice-and-what-does-it-do/
H.R. 5005 (107th): Homeland Security Act of 2002 — U.S. Congress
https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/house-bill/5005
Fragmentation of INS into USCIS, CBP, and ICE
Overview of INS History — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/our-history/overview-of-ins-history
The Homeland Security Act Divided the Immigration and Naturalization Service — CLINIC
https://www.cliniclegal.org/resources/immigration-and-nationality-act/homeland-security-act-divided-immigration
Chapter 1: Purpose and Background — USCIS
https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/our-history/chapter-1-purpose-and-background
United States Immigration and Naturalization Service — Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_Naturalization_Service
Split of the U.S. Customs Service into CBP and ICE
CBP History Through the Years — U.S. Customs and Border Protection
https://www.cbp.gov/about/history
CBP’s 20th Anniversary History — CBP
https://www.cbp.gov/about/history/cbp-history-20th-anniversary
United States Customs Service — Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Customs_Service
Archived: History of ICE — ICE
https://www.ice.gov/history
Legal Authority: Immigration vs. Customs Powers
The Rot Goes Deeper Than ICE — New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/15/opinion/ice-immigration-trump.html
Terminating the Department of Homeland Security — Cato Institute
https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/terminating-department-homeland-security
Mission Creep, Surveillance, and Paramilitary Expansion
Always Watching: How ICE’s Plan to Monitor Social Media 24/7 Threatens Privacy and Civic Participation — The Conversation
https://theconversation.com/always-watching-how-ices-plan-to-monitor-social-media-24-7-threatens-privacy-and-civic-participation-93098
ICE Leadership Furthers the Effort to “Abolish ICE” — Center for Immigration Studies
https://cis.org/Mortensen/ICE-Leadership-Furthers-Effort-Abolish-ICE
DHS Creation, Post-9/11 Context, and Contractor Expansion
Creation of the Department of Homeland Security — DHS https://www.dhs.gov/creation-department-homeland-security
The Disaster After 9/11: The Department of Homeland Security and the Intelligence Reorganization — policy analysis https://www.hsaj.org/articles/146
Assessing DHS 10 Years Later: How Wisely Is DHS Spending Taxpayer Dollars? — Congress.gov https://www.congress.gov/event/113th-congress/house-event/LC32127/text
Charting a Path Forward: DHS Quadrennial Homeland Security Review — GovInfo https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GPO-QHSR-2014
Two Decades After 9/11, National Security Focus Still Dominates U.S. Immigration System — Migration Policy Institute https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/two-decades-after-911-national-security-focus-dominates-immigration
Arguments for Structural Separation / Unmerging
Brennan Center for Justice, “A Realignment for Homeland Security Investigations,” June 29, 2023 https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/realignment-homeland-security-investigations
Key citation from the report references the 2018 HSI letter: David Shaw (special agent in charge, HSI) et al. to Kirstjen Nielsen (secretary of homeland security, DHS), letter, June 21, 2018, https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4562896-FILE-3286
Accountability, Data Use, and Civil Liberties
U.S. Government Accountability Office, “Immigration Detention: ICE Can Improve Oversight and Management,” GAO-20-596, September 2020 https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-20-596.pdf
Key findings: ICE does not track or analyze data from self-assessments; ICE does not analyze inspection results data to identify potential trends; Field offices only responded to 20 of 45 inspection corrective action plans in FY 2015-2016
American Immigration Council, “Oversight of Immigration Detention: An Overview,” March 27, 2025 https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/fact-sheet/oversight-immigration-detention-overview/
Key findings: DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties lacks enforcement authority for recommendations (except disability discrimination cases); 2020 GAO report found ICE does not track or analyze self-assessment data; 2019 OIG report found Nakamoto inspections “very, very, very difficult to fail” and “useless”
National Immigrant Justice Center, “Beyond Repair: ICE’s Abusive Detention Inspection and Oversight System,” November 2023 https://immigrantjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/NIJC-Policy-brief_ICE-detention-inspections_November2023.pdf
Key findings: Over 200 deaths in ICE detention since 2003, CRCL investigations showing “barbaric conditions” kept from public for years, Inspection process “deliberately designed to rubber stamp facility compliance”
U.S. Government Accountability Office, “Immigration Enforcement: ICE Can Further Enhance Its Planning,” GAO-21-186, December 2020 https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-21-186.pdf: Covers 287(g) program oversight and complaint procedures
Thomson Reuters Selling ICE Access to Data — Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/ice-data-tracking/
A 1987 Proposal Could Help Hold ICE to Account for Constitutional Violations — legal analysis
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/1987-proposal-could-help-hold-ice-account-constitutional-violations
Operational Challenges: Staffing and Budget
Personnel Size
What Does ICE Do? — USAFacts
https://usafacts.org/articles/what-does-the-immigration-and-customs-enforcement-ice-do/
The Cost of Immigration Enforcement and Border Security — American Immigration Council
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/the-cost-of-immigration-enforcement-and-border-security
Budget Scale
How ICE Became the Highest-Funded U.S. Law Enforcement Agency — NPR
https://www.npr.org/2019/06/20/734283610/how-ice-became-the-highest-funded-u-s-law-enforcement-agency
This Is How Much ICE Gets in Funding — Marketplace
https://www.marketplace.org/2019/06/25/how-much-money-ice-gets/
DHS as a Mega-Merger (2003)
United States Department of Homeland Security — Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Homeland_Security
History | Homeland Security — DHS https://www.dhs.gov/history
Homeland Security Department Absorbs Agencies — Government Executive https://www.govexec.com/management/2003/03/homeland-security-department-absorbs-agencies/14023/
President Welcomes Employees to DHS — White House Archives https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030306-8.html
Agencies Merged into DHS (22 Total)
Who Joined DHS — DHS
https://www.dhs.gov/who-joined-dhs
DHS at 20 — DHS
https://www.dhs.gov/dhs-20
Functions Returned to HHS
Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) — CHEMM
https://chemm.hhs.gov/sns.htm
The Strategic National Stockpile: Overview and Issues for Congress — Congress.gov
https://www.congress.gov/rl/33242
The Strategic National Stockpile: Origin, Policy Foundations, and Federal Context — NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK221966/
Panel Votes to Shift Medical Disaster System from DHS — Government Executive
https://www.govexec.com/management/2006/10/panel-votes-to-shift-medical-disaster-system-from-dhs/22942/
National Disaster Medical System — Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Disaster_Medical_System
The National Disaster Medical System and Military Combat Readiness — PubMed Central
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3488554/
Related Articles:
ICE: Legal Standards, Mission Creep, and the Erosion of Accountability ICE merged domestic immigration enforcement with border customs under incompatible legal frameworks. Unmerging would return each function to appropriate oversight.
DHS and INS: Supporting Documentation – Primary sources and historical records documenting the creation of DHS and the merger that formed ICE.
Combined References – Complete bibliography and source citations for the unmerge ICE analysis.
Unmerge ICE: Letter to Congress (Substack) – Send this letter to your senators and representatives via Resistbot: text SIGN PIMBYB to 50409 or visit resist.bot/petitions/PIMBYB