In recent years, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
has detained and deported record numbers of people from the
United States. In fiscal year 2011, ICE deported nearly 400,000
people. Many of them were long-time residents with no serious
criminal history, and one out of every five was the parent of a
U.S. citizen child. As a result, more than 5,000 American
children were sent to foster care in 2011. U.S. citizens, too,
have been caught up in the enforcement dragnet. This explosion
in immigration enforcement has been fueled by ICE’s ever-
expanding biometric screening program, “Secure Communities”; by
ICE’s continuing use of abusive and often warrantless raids; and
by ICE’s collaboration with state and local law enforcement
through the 287(g) program, joint task forces, and ad hoc
alliances. Make a Difference Your support helps the ACLU defend
immigrants’ rights and other civil liberties. These enforcement
programs pose a variety of threats to civil liberties: They
implicate the Fourth Amendment’s p