![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/AP_17044803991198_c0-67-3223-1946_s885x516.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo by: Bryan Cox
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was among the most embattled agencies in the previous administration, with deportation officers saying they signed up to enforce immigration laws only to have Obama officials put severe restrictions on when and how they could carry out their duties. (Associated Press\/File)<\/p><\/div>\n
By\u00a0Stephen Dinan<\/span>\u00a0– The Washington Times<\/span><\/p>\n The country\u2019s immigration enforcement officers launched a website Tuesday demanding that President\u00a0Trump<\/a>\u00a0do more to clean up their agency, saying he has left the Obama team in place and it\u2019s stymying his goal of enforcing laws on the books.<\/p>\n U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement supervisors in\u00a0Philadelphia<\/a>\u00a0banned officers from wearing bulletproof vests during an operation in the dangerous \u201cbadlands\u201d section in the city\u2019s north for fear of offending the immigrant community, according to a new website, JICReport.com.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, officers in one Utah city are required to give city officials seven days\u2019 heads-up before arresting anyone \u2014 and by the time they go to make the arrest, the immigrants they are targeting have taken off, the website says.<\/p>\n Compiled by the National ICE Council, which represents ICE officers, the website is part whistleblower and part primal scream for\u00a0Mr. Trump<\/a>\u00a0to pay attention to a group of people who were among his staunchest backers during the presidential campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cICE Officers grudgingly admit that the only President they ever endorsed hasn\u2019t kept his word, and many officers now feel betrayed,\u201d the officers say on the website.<\/p>\n National ICE Council President Chris Crane, in an\u00a0open letter<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0Mr. Trump<\/a>, posted on the site, said he finds himself regularly having to defend the president to ICE officers who backed\u00a0Mr. Trump<\/a>\u00a0during the campaign but now feel \u201cstab[bed] in the back\u201d by the administration.<\/p>\n Mr. Crane said he gives\u00a0Mr. Trump<\/a>\u00a0the benefit of the doubt but that those around the president \u2014 whom he doesn\u2019t name \u2014 appear to be trying to shield him from hearing about the continued struggles at ICE.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile officers view the President\u2019s position on enforcement as courageous, the Trump administration has left all of the Obama managers and leadership in place, a group that ICE Officers know after the last eight years to be completely incompetent, corrupt and anti-enforcement,\u201d Mr. Crane wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile President\u00a0Trump<\/a>\u00a0did create an uptick in morale at ICE through his support of enforcement operations, tensions are on the rise between\u00a0Trump<\/a>\u2019s army of Obama holdovers and boots on the ground officers in the field, as behind the scenes Obama holdovers continue to undermine law enforcement operations and wage war against their own law enforcement officers.\u201d<\/p>\n The White House didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n ICE was among the most embattled agencies in the last administration, with deportation officers saying they signed up to enforce immigration laws, only to have Obama officials put severe restrictions on when and how they could carry out their duties.<\/p>\n More than 80 percent of illegal immigrants were put off limits for deportation under the Obama administration.<\/p>\n When the Trump administration took over, officials lifted the restrictions, saying most illegal immigrants could be deported \u2014 though they left in place the directive that criminals, national security threats and repeat immigration violators be given top priority.<\/p>\n Numbers for fiscal year 2017 are still pending, so it\u2019s unclear how much of a change the new policy has made.<\/p>\n On Tuesday,\u00a0Mr. Trump<\/a>\u00a0nominated Tom Homan \u2014 who for nearly 10 months has been acting director of ICE \u2014 to hold the job permanently. That nomination will likely ignite a fierce debate on Capitol Hill over\u00a0Mr. Trump<\/a>\u2019s immigration plans.<\/p>\n The ICE Council\u2019s new site doesn\u2019t find fault with Mr. Homan\u2019s immigration policies but does ask for him to do more on the personnel side, saying Obama-era holdovers are still given too much power in decision-making.<\/p>\n The website invites tips from Homeland Security employees who see malfeasance at the department or who believe it\u2019s falling short on its mission to protect the country\u2019s borders and interior.<\/p>\n One early posting reports on as many as 500 ICE supervisors who the council says are using official vehicles for their own personal travel, each \u201cgouging American taxpayers for approximately $5,000 annually in free fuel alone,\u201d and on accusations of sexual harassment.<\/p>\n Yet another tip reports on \u201csecret orders\u201d the council says have been given to officers in Utah to alert Park City before they attempt any arrests in the city. The officers say they have to wait as long as a week before attempting the arrests \u2014 and by the time they go after their targets, they appear to have been alerted and fled.<\/p>\n An ICE official said they do regularly let local law enforcement know they are active in that jurisdiction \u201cin order to deconflict and avoid any potential \u2018blue on blue\u2019 issues.\u201d But the official said there is no set timeline, and it often happens only while officers are on scene.<\/p>\n The worry about blue-on-blue entanglements played out the other way in the\u00a0Philadelphia<\/a>\u00a0incident, where ICE officers say supervisors told them to remove their bulletproof vests before attempting to make an arrest in the city.<\/p>\n The vests contain the officers\u2019 markings identifying them as police, so without the vests they had nothing visible to show they were law enforcement. Neighbors ended up calling city police to report the men as intruders.<\/p>\n The website said the supervisors should have been fired and\u00a0Mr. Trump<\/a>\u00a0should personally issue a directive ordering discipline for any ICE supervisor who demands officers remove their body armor.<\/p>\n \u201cOur own supervisors would rather see the bodies of their own dead officers full of bullet holes than offend an illegal alien,\u201d said Officer Gabriel Cimino, president of the local union chapter. \u201cThis is the absolute madness that our officers in the field are dealing with every day. Will an officer have to die before President\u00a0Trump<\/a>\u00a0helps us restore order to this agency?\u201d<\/p>\n The ICE official speaking for the agency was unable to provide more details but indicated they were taking the matter seriously.<\/p>\n ICE\u201cICE holds all of its personnel to the highest standards of professional and ethical conduct. The agency takes all allegations of misconduct very seriously and will respond appropriately based on any investigative findings,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n