following the attack on the United States on 9/11 the US government restructured its handling of investigating and managing immigration and related activity around the world it created ice Immigration and Customs Enforcement ice now has more than 20,000 law enforcement and support Personnel in more than 400 offices in the United States and around the world in 2019 a camera crew was offered access to follow and document what the men and women of ice do on a daily basis every year ice removes thousands of immigrants from the United States the majority for committing crimes you're not going to focus on the person that jalk down the street they're talking egregious crimes murder sex offenses child molestation the vehicle just pulled up in front of our Target house how you doing but the activity of ice and its enforcement and removal operations is not without controversy hi officer I go and I go hunting for these ice agents over here we see ice as an assault on the very character and History of the United States the ice a lot of people want to make it out that ice e specifically wants to Target everybody in the country they wouldn't come on a radar if they were here just for a better better life these are the men and women of ice and the work they do 365 days a year year are you going to comply this time no you're not going to comply no the human stories behind the headlines let go and their core mission to enforce America's immigration laws Beyond borders inside American Immigration Showtime this time on Beyond borders a Guatemalan illegal immigrant with convictions for DUI and domestic violence is Tracked Down To The Streets of Newark a Polish national who previously agreed to leave the United States in 2011 is arrested by immigration officers after driving Under the Influence or [Music] DUI a Honduran Criminal Who was released back into his own Community after serving time in prison for sexual assault is picked up in Philadelphia [Music] an Indian man who overstay his holiday Visa faces deportation after living in the United States for 20 years a registered sex offender from El Salvador is tracked down to his place of work in [Music] Newark new arrivals are processed at the otai Mesa detention facility near San Diego while they wait for their chance to see an immigration judge it's 5:00 a.m. in New Jersey and Ice Officer Ken is on his way to the first case of the day we off to uh the city of Orange in New Jersey it's an urban city so you have a lot of drugs uh possession and distribution of uh narcotics you know you have your aggravated assault you have your domestic violence cases you have your DUI you know there are homicide cases there are robberies and uh burglaries it's similar to the majority of the cases across the state we have a couple of targets that were looking to arrest today and uh the first one we're heading to is a Guatemalan National that's had enter the country legally has multiple DUI convictions has some domestic violence issues we uh looking to grab him first hopefully our Intel is correct that he leaves early in the morning you don't roll up blind on these situations especially when you have someone that has a criminal background like that so the officers will investigate it you know they'll follow up with it uh check out some leads through surveillance try and get them outside of the residence for the element of surprise and also officer safety issue that way but like I said we go into the residences if we have to it's not an issue with trained and we do it numerous times in Philadelphia ice officer Ryan is on his way to the home address of a Honduran sex offender who was recently paroled from prison this guy was arrested by the Philadelphia Police Department that's what alerted us that he was here in this country he had contact with law enforcement that resulted in an arrest where he was booked into their custody uh he went through his criminal proceedings was found guilty by a judge and the judge actually sentenced him to to a period of incarceration where you know he he actually served some time we sent the detainer up to Philadelphia prison system and and unfortunately again they refused to honor it and they you know Unfortunately they released this guy back into his community and uh he has no no legal status here in the United States people don't typically want people people that have been you know arrested and convicted and served prison sentences living on their block the plan is is that you know hopefully somebody can see him coming out of the house somebody can positively identify him from from the arrest photo and uh and we can grab him before he gets into a car but far enough away from the house that he can't run back into the house [Music] the otai Mesa Detention Center in San Diego is located less than a mile from the Mexican border the OT M Detention Facility is an ice detention center for detainees at multiple stages of the immigration process all the way from their initial appearance with an IM an asylum officer all the way through their complete hearings with an immigration judge and even after they've been ordered removed throughout the appeal process so the facility is about a/4 mile from one end to the other it's a A New Concept in detention it's a free flowing environment detainees are able to walk freely without handcuffs or escorts all the way from one end to the other or wherever they need to go there's just a free flowing movement for them we have detainees at different classification levels the blue jumpsuits are for low-level detainees with no criminal record or just Asylum Seekers we also have those that are in orange which is a low medium or a medium high we also have detainers that are wearing red which is for high level detainees everyone's got a story to tell and we're here to make sure that they're treated in a fair humane way and make it through the legal process that the government has provided the individuals will go through the intake process which they have 12 hours to compete this whole process here in this area once they get to their housing unit then they're going to be scheduled for an interview with an asylum officer if they've claimed fear if they have a positive determination of fear what will then happen is they'll get referred to the immigration judge for a full hearing where they'll go through that process if they get a negative determination of fear then they will have the opportunity to request a review by an immigration judge and have that review done and if they lose that one then they'll be [Music] removed in Philadelphia a Polish national who has been living illegally in the United States for 20 years faces deportation back to his home country I'm from Poland and the city is Lublin is on the southeast of Poland I just take the Visa and just come to America was December 2003 they give me the 10 years Visa I start to live in Polish area in one room with my wife we come without the money just start uh the life in here after half a year we take apartment after 2 years we bought the house I did completely remodel house move in and live there I take the job uh I made the small company and I was working like a subcontractor for uh pretty big company in New Jersey they sponsored me because I'm good in my job I start already to try to be legal in America and I actually uh step by step uh take the form 114 or something like that this is the last step before the green card but the law in us nobody can take it the Green Card nobody they make it before something like 10 years amnesty or through the work you can stay in America now is nothing because of situation in Poland somebody making trouble and I didn't know about it and they make the red not for me because of this red notice I signed the voluntary departure from us we encountered him in 2011 uh at that point there was a warrant for his arrest in Poland so he was arrested in placed in ice custody and deportation proceedings he was released on bond from the immigration judge and eventually he was granted voluntary departure which means that he was to leave the country on his own uh within a certain period of time uh it doesn't look like he's done that he's still here in the United States he says he hasn't left so when he didn't depart within the required amount of time that voluntary departure order became a fine order removal today they hold me on the street take my fingerprints and the fingerprints are coming to here I go work the guys are coming and for me done [Music] back in New Jersey ice Officer Ken is quietly getting into position across the street from the house of the Guatemalan National there's a blue van if you can see right here in this driveway here you see it on the end right there that's his van supposedly so Guatemala National just had some on uh that has um conviction for DUI simple assault domestic violence disorderly conduct he actually um was placed in removal proceedings before had time in front of the judge and the judge ordered him removed so he has a warrant of removal right now between 6 6:30 gets picked up to go to work so we're going to try to um pick him up as he's coming out of the house and if he gets in the vehicle that's what we're doing right now I have uh right now three separate teams with a 5 m radius on three separate targets so um there is urgency to affect the arrest on these subjects that uh Public Safety threats right now in this neighborhood um I'm trying to monitor some traffic uh with a couple of the uh teams right now and you know uh this one was set up on was supposed to have this guy in eyesight within a half hour or so one of the other teams is checking on an address they believe the subject to be in and there's some movement in the building the lights coming on to that effect so it's uh getting a little hectic but I'll monitor the situation and we're in close proximity of each other so if uh assistance is needed we can move to either one of those spots in Philadelphia ice officer Ryan arrives at the Target house but the inner city location creates additional challenges for the team we have a block that has both the front and the back as you can see people Park in the front and the back we don't have a a vehicle that this guy's using so we have to have people cover both both the front entrance and the back entrance it's dark it's not easy to identify people you know when and it kind of spreads you thin where you know we only have so many people we can't um it's difficult to cover both the front and the back of a house [Music] elsewhere in the city an Indian national who first arrived in the United States on a tourist visa 20 years ago has been detained by Ice officers came here in 1999 to [Music] study but going to get Aid from the government because I came on a tour Visa so I started working since then want to get papers that was my dream from the day one build a good life over here I used to work at a Columbus Boulevard gas station and they the owners file charges on me that I stole money from them we have new skill machines the gambling machines at the gas station this one night this cab driver 666 the white car he hit $500 I managed to cash that out then he hit $300 I told him come give me a couple hours so I can make some sales so I can pay you he said okay he went back to the machine he hit again $500 oh he says I need my money right now I said sir I don't have I even opened the rest and showed it to him that I don't have no cash he us the MF word and he says that I'm going to shoot you I said like look give me a couple hours he understood he left I went behind the machine there's the money inserter in there I took that out took the money out make sure that the $800 are on on the site for him the cops came I'm standing right over there with my daughter they saw the camera they saw everything I told him that see what I have done that the guy was over there I paid him I didn't put the money in my pocket they still fil the charges I just came out of the house getting into the car going to the court and she saw them getting me arrested so she just got upset she says she's fine so far so good so last year I got robbed and I got beat eight of my vessels in small membrane were busted I'm still hurting right now due to all of this I don't want to mess with nobody I just want to work and just take care of my daughter and that's it go home and now I'm wondered I don't know what's going to happen [Music] in New Jersey lights have just come on in the house ice Officer Ken is watching with his team sounded like a vehicle started I can't tell all right I'm watching for the lights the blue van is on the lights are on he started the Blue Van this guy out blue van is moving car you have other individuals leaving the basement too there's at least three of them here all right down four Pleasant move around the front never we're coming Pleasant the front officers need to stop the vehicle before it gets to the nearby freeway where they could lose the suspect in the morning rush hour traffic me the front of the vehicle I'm going to get in front of it and then you can pull it over [Music] for the vehicle stops and is quickly surrounded by Ice officers that's a Target with the identity of the target confirmed the officers now need to clear the road to avoid a traffic jam occurring where are his keys I'll pull this van over they going to take me okay [Music] yeah don't the let me just move my clock the suspect is handcuffed and searched back he is Led Away by Ice officers and securely placed in the rear passenger seat of a waiting car [Music] meanwhile ice Officer Ken Parks the suspect's van further down the [Music] street it yeah thank you very much 620 all right see you there thank you good job [Music] guys well the Intel that we had was uh basically on point spot on so the uh subject uh leaves between 6:30 and 7: gets in a blue um uh van and uh you know heads out down the block and you know we we sat there we watched the basement apartment lights go on around 6:30 6:35 subject come out of the basement apartment get in the Blue Van pull out and uh you know the team executed a vehicle stop on the subject pulled them over it was the Target and uh you know it went cut and dry it was uh you know outstanding work by the the guys and uh he already has a final order of removal so he is going to be detained basically till we uh remove him from the United [Music] States in Philadelphia a Hispanic male fitting the target's description has left the building the team are on high alert this guy is bringing out a mattress a old mattress and it look like it may be our Target too he's got the gift where he can ID people so we just got a call on the radio that somebody said they think it's him coming out of the house right now I don't want to turn up I think it'sin jump yeah let's go that's some right there please don't move don't move you got it put your hand on the wall what's your name okay he just was coming out of his house putting out some trash that's the guy we're looking for that's the guy that was released from the city of Philadelphia after serving time and US putting a detainer on him we had to come out here with all these people to arrest him here rather than the city turning him over to us ice officers take the suspect to a nearby car and place him securely in the rear passenger seat that's it I mean I've I've turn and off right should I [Music] couldn't have gone any better happy that everyone got out of there without a problem and that that you know no one ran no one was in any danger or anything like that we were able to identify him from his past arrest photos and uh you know they they called it out that it was him so I wound up being the first one there most people tend to listen to the police and and and don't want to really put up a fight there are those people that that want to when they see you know a police officer coming towards them or or you know a Federal Officer coming towards them that their first instinct it is to run but I think most people comply it's another day in New Jersey and Ice Officer Ken is on his way to the last known address of the first suspect right now it's 8:00 um our next Target lives in the city of Patterson it's another densely populated area in SE County Northeast New Jersey um this subject is an El Salvadorian National that has three convictions for DUI and is also a registered sex offender under Megan's Law for a sexual assault against a minor has a green card but because of the fact that he has a serious felony conviction involving a sex offense against a child he has violated the immigration nationality act and it's up to a judge to decide whether or not he can remain in the United States so we're going to arrest him and uh Place him in removal proceedings and the judge will determine whether or not he can remain in the United States this gentleman does not drive he's either going to walk or take public transportation and due to the the cold weather today we're pretty sure he's going to try and take public transportation so we're figuring he's going to leave the house around 9 9:30 to get to his job which starts at 10:00 we're going to set up on the residence and we're going to make sure we make the arrest as he comes out of the residence before he gets to the actual bus stop or whatever type of public transportation he's going to be taking this morning we will definitely not wait till he gets to the area that's going to be crowded with other people waiting for public transportation we know where his job is so by any chance if he stayed somewhere else tonight or and he went to work without us seeing him leave the residence we'll then head to the employment to try and execute the arrest there we do know where the employment is it's not far from his residence about a couple of miles away we've had two on the house the entire morning so far so we'll have a total of four officers up there to execute this [Music] arrest back in Philadelphia the Indian national who has been living illegally in the United States for 20 years is waiting to hear what will happen to him [Music] next how you doing you ready we're going to go over some paperwork real quick okay right over here all here you have been admitted into the United States but are removable for the following reasons stated below you are not a citizen or national of the United States you are a native of India and a citizen of India you are admitted to the United States at Los Angeles California on or about August 10th 1999 as a non-immigrant B2 visitor for pleasure with authorization to remain in the United States for a temporary period not to exceed February 9 2000 you remained in the United States Beyond February 9th 2000 without authorization from the Department of Homeland Security on the basis of the forgoing it is charged that you are subject to removal from the United States pursuant to the following provisions of law section 237 a1b of the IM immigration nationality act it's an administrative charge which you have to see a judge for okay you understand that part yep okay I just take these paperwork through my lawyer and whatever she wants to do at this doesn't mean anything as far as you being removed from the United States all this means is you're being served with the paperwork okay the judge is responsible for doing that okay not us all [Music] right just to show you you don't have to sign this this is an arrest warrant for you from Department of Homeland Security okay it was determined that there was probable cause to believe that you is removal from the United States the determination based upon the execution of a chargeing documents to initial removal proceedings against the subject you'll be able to fight your case at home through the courts you understand that okay you're released and contingent upon your enrollment and successful participation in the alternatives to detention ATD program as designated by the Department of Homeland Security electronic monitoring is a requirement and a curfew must be imposed fairies to comply with the conditions of the release or the requirements of the ATD program may result in redetermination of your release conditions or your arrest so any violation that you do here can also be brought back in to Red determine if you need to be brought back into custody or not okay do you have a passport Indian passport yes where is that at the house at the house okay eventually when you go over to ISF and you get enrolled into um their program after we release you you're going to have to surrender your passport that's part of the rules of this program that you're being released today okay okay signature here okay do you have any questions all right I going make some copies of these documents for you so you have you can provide your lawyer with um they're going to take you over to isap which is only a few blocks away they're going to roll you into of the program which is the ATD and isap program the detainee now knows that he will be allowed to return home to his daughter while his case is processed but serious doubts still remain about his future in the United States at the otai Mesa detention center near San Diego new arrivals are being prepared for processing into the secure facility so right now what we have going on is we have multiple detainees being brought in by the border patrol and they're going through their property and their shoes make sure that they don't have any Contraband and they're cataloging all of their property at this point um once they go through here they're going to go in for the whole intake process here inside the facility so when they got dropped off outside one of our officers as well as medical screened them to make sure that there's no uh contagious diseases and that they are who they said they were and we have their files and all that prop the majority of these people are Asylum Seekers looking for either a better life or economic Asylum or they're actually searching for asking for political Asylum um a lot of we have a large population coming from Cameroon uh a lot of them are are fleeing actual persecution so as far as the actual threat it is minimal however we have found those with criminal records in with these same people coming across the border so there is a legitimate threat out there 12 hours is the guideline set by the 2011 performance-based National detention standards so we have 12 hours to complete the intake process and get them medically screened categorized and housed appropriately according to their classification level that's Caron mhm tazan devil yeah I collection all you remember there we are a nation of laws and they you need to follow the rules and they're coming across and it's just a process they have to go through in Philadelphia time has run out for the Polish man who was arrested on DUI offenses by the city police he asked to you know for the opportunity to leave the country on his own the judge granted him that however part of that order is that if you don't leave the country in the time that is allotted to you it becomes a final order of removal so now it's our job to try to affect that removal and and return him to his country you know I'm the man but my wife it's almost want to talk me about the suicide you know because the life is finish I don't know where can I go what can I do and I'm working all the time I'm working Sundays I working h days I'm working sometimes 2 3 hours from this where I'm living twice the I make mistake when I'm driving the officer hold me done my wife don't do any mistake no with the driving no nothing they don't arrest her and they don't arrest me in the house that arrest me on the street uh when I'm I was on the way to the to the work he was recently arrested for DUI uh that's how we encountered him today and uh we're going to remove him from the country we're also going to check to make sure that the the warrant from Poland has been cleared so he's going to go into ice custody into one of our local uh detention centers uh we'll we'll try to get a travel Document from the Polish government and once we do that we'll make arrangements for him to to be return to Poland that might take a couple of weeks I know this is the laow yeah done I don't understand why is impossible just to stay in America you know if you can make it any probation do something like that check how you live what you did I never take any $1 from America I always only pay for everything what the country want from me then it's why I think I'm better American than many others American I already bought two houses here I pay the taxes I have the legal company I'm working really good I don't B at anybody I don't do anything wrong why I can't live here why but you know low is the low I don't know how how how well they're going to spend the truth to they're going to tell the story the way they they say it we're going to tell the story the way we say it we have the laws for reason uh we put time into the Immigration Court for them to go through the process and we just can't then ignore the decisions of the court at the end of the day we prioritize the criminals but we also have a responsibility to to enforce all of the laws of this country if he hadn't been arrested for the for the criminal charge here in the US we probably wouldn't have encountered [Music] him in New Jersey ice Officer Ken is in position and observing the house the suspect is believed to be staying at we have vehicles going in and out of the driveway next to the Target residents and we have people that are coming in and out also and there was a gentleman that might have met the um description and facial look of the subject we had a couple officers go talk to him as he made it walked away and turned the corner but it wasn't our Target so we're still on track he should be coming out hopefully within 15 to 20 minutes to head to to work so even though everything is moving around uh we're still in place waiting for our subject in Philadelphia the Indian man who overstate his holiday Visa by 20 years has been offered a place on the ATD program while his case is being process through the legal system what happened was we served him his court paperwork so he's got to see an immigration judge but the violations that he he overstate his Visa we aren't responsible for the actual ordering the person removed the judge is responsible for that so he got an administrative charge by us to see an immigration judge for violating his overstate order he's going to have his day in court just like any other thing if he was criminally arrested he would have his day in court with him with the judge because he has has a child custody issue meaning that he's responsible for child and the mother is not in the picture we have what's called an ATV program alternatives to detention so we put a GPS on him to track his movements so he's responsible to report here and there and he'll have regular scheduled house visits to make sure everything in the home is okay and there's no issues there and then he'll have regular schedule office visits there's not really a lot room in custody so having him in custody is going to create a big problem with the child when people have issues like this this is just another program to help facilitate that I mean we're all human even people in Immigration uh that work for I here we all have families so we're not heartless we understand that he's got a child custody issue mean he's he was very emotional and you could see when he was signing his court paperwork he was nervous to sign his signature so I was trying to let him know it's okay you know you're going to be able to go home and fight your your cases at home with and you know with your lawyers and and be with your kid here's your core paperwork okay thanks all right good [Music] luck in New Jersey ice officers can see movement outside the target's house that truck parking front of you there's a guy in there he's uh he's asleep in the driver's seat people are watching then let me see what these guys are doing and I'll uh I'll uh I'll get back to you all right let me know we've had an individual back and forth um different than the one subject that came out that we ID that wasn't him we didn't figure it was him but we wanted to double check we have one individual that pulled up with a truck in the backyard that went in front of the house um it sort of looked like him but we weren't 100% sure and we don't believe it is but um he just pulled out and we just determined that maybe I'll just um it comes back real quick just say comes back to a subject that might be a relative of him cuz it has the same last name uh so we have officer dispatch to pull that vehicle over to ID that subject ice Officer Ken maintains watch on the house and waits for an update from the officers who are tailing the truck got be a relative he's walking into the Dunkin Donuts right now it's hard it looks like him but I don't know if it's the same guy he's got a hat on he might be a brother yeah that's that's where things have run that name c stat with his team now split across two locations ice Officer Ken must keep a tight control of the situation with you now stand by I'm waiting for him to come out before I uh I do anything so rather relative you know he's a got from old yeah he pict the register to uh same last name as our Target the the first name is ronar you know I texted you and now he comes back to RP we're assuming this is his brother relative all right maybe uh I'll just uh check his ID real quick and just say we're looking for vehicle that not description the ice officer moves in and catches the suspect's relative off guard as he returns to his vehicle caros huh this is your brother's vehicle all right but the officer notices something strange about the documents we got a war okay man got War for it's tangle tangle we got him uh in custody oh turn around your hands on your back with the suspect detained in the car park the remaining ice officers back at the house hurry to assist their colleagues [Music] yeah same M our Target every second counts as the suspect could still pose a threat to the arresting [Music] officers have any weapons on the arresting officer continues to search the suspect as backup finally arrives to assist him a full body search is conducted to ensure the suspect has no concealed weapons that could pose a threat to the arresting officers or passing members of the public this gentleman that we were talking about he was looking a little strange towards the front of the house as though seem some vehicles that might not have been uh belonging to the area so he came back out looked again then he got back in the truck and he pulled away see the information we have from is the subject doesn't drive he doesn't drive he walks to work or he takes public transportation so this threw everything out of whack but when we it comes back to a relative of his which we believe is a brother so we were trying to get the photo of the brother but in the interim when he pulled out of the driveway I dispatched an officer to follow him and in the interim we were pulling photos of the brother and realized that the brother's photo didn't match this gentleman that supposedly owned the car and he is in fact the Target that we were looking for when you follow up on your lead you see what happens and if we didn't follow up on that he would have been gone right then so I'm extremely pleased with the guys and the work that was being done on the other side making all the phone calls and pulling up the IDS from the guys back at the office so this was an allaround team effort to get this guy because our information was good but yet some of it was not on points so it all wound up coming out and the arrest was you know a great arrest that we were able to [Music] do in Philadelphia the Indian national reflects on his arrest and what it could mean for his future in the United States they releasing me for now yes [Music] able to see my [Music] daughter been too long in this country and I've never been arrested I don't know these things how they work this is just very new to [Music] me so let's see [Music] [Music] I have to appear in front of the judge and they're taking me to some place right now I don't know to put an ankle breast liet something like that I'm scared I didn't knew what's going to happen all I knew is that I have to appear in the court for the hearing today and I was brought in over here so never went through that before and immigration judge will ultimately make the final decision on this man's future status in the United States but for now he will be allowed to return to his daughter and the life he knows in [Music] Philadelphia in New Jersey ice Officer Ken reflects on a successful morning for his team this last Target you saw a lot of uh different factors come into play but persistence was a key on you know our my staff myself following up on the possibilities of all the people coming and going from the residence and like I said the Intel we has was he didn't drive and we couldn't tell if that was him maybe a family member but you know we pull him over and lo and behold he's using his brother's car with the brother's registration but it was actually the Target that was driving the vehicle so so that's very satisfying when you you follow up on all the leads and and the leads lead you to the Target that's when the people might know when someone might be looking for them they'll use other people's vehicles that have status here in the United States so it comes back to someone that has status and and maybe not any criminality so it is [Music] common the gu enen wanted for DUI and domestic violence was removed from the country in February 2020 the Honduran convicted of sexual offenses in the United States was returned to Honduras the Salvadoran man arrested in Newark for sexual offenses against a minor was deported from the United States in March 2020 the Polish man was repatriated to Poland his current whereabouts are unknown the Indian national was released back into the community pending removal proceedings he subsequently absconded from the ATD program his whereabouts were unknown until ice officers encountered him again at Delaware County Prison Pennsylvania following his arrest on a number of serious felony charges these Criminal proceedings are still pending and Ice has lodged a detainer on him for future removal from the [Music] country the work of ice continues [Music]