WASHINGTON — In the contentious arena of immigration enforcement, Julie L. Myers sits in one of the hot seats. Myers is the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency responsible for finding and deporting illegal immigrants. When appointed by President Bush in 2005, Myers was criticized for her relative youth (she was 36), limited experience and personal connections to the administration. She was confirmed Wednesday by the Senate after a few uncertain weeks in which critics questioned her judgment and commitment to targeting employers of illegal immigrants. Myers won confirmation with the backing of ICE employees, some of whom went to Capitol Hill to testify on her behalf. She spoke to The Times about ICE's record, its controversial immigration raids, Congress' failure to overhaul immigration laws and her goals for next year.
New ICE chief discusses raids, Congress and goals
Q&A
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What has ICE accomplished in 2007 in terms of immigration enforcement?
On the work-site enforcement side, both our criminal arrests [of employers] and administrative arrests [of illegal immigrants] are up well over 100%. We have transformed detention and removal by ending "catch and release" [in which illegal border-crossers were immediately let go because of a lack of detention space]. That is essential if you're seeking to restore the integrity of the immigration system. And we have reduced the time that other-than-Mexican detainees are held. The average length of stay has gone down from 90 days to 37.5 days -- that's good for taxpayers; that's good for the aliens.
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In a number of high-profile ICE raids last year, children were separated from their parents when the parents were detained and deported. Has ICE made any policy changes to address this issue?
After New Bedford [the Massachusetts city where dozens of children of illegal immigrants were stranded after their parents were arrested in a raid], we partnered with the Division of Immigration Health Services . . . to do an initial triage to ask people about sole-caregiver and medical issues. We found that sometimes in raids people were not telling us the truth when we asked if they had children, but we found they were more willing to tell DIHS the truth. We're always looking to see if we can improve, but I will say our immigration laws put people in a difficult situation sometimes -- I mean, the folks who come into our country illegally, then have a child and put that child at risk.
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