A former Department of Homeland Security official didn’t mince words on CNN on Tuesday, describing how the agency is failing to meet its mission and endangering the American public.
In the last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have killed two people during traffic stops. One of them was a 26-year-old Colombian man living in Maine, and the other was a 52-year-old immigrant in Houston who was in line to obtain his work authorization. Both killings sparked protests and outrage from community members after videos appeared to contradict ICE’s narrative about the incidents.
Following the killings, ICE has decided to stop conducting traffic stops, according to reports. However, ex-DHS Chief of Staff Deborah Fleischaker told CNN’s Brianna Keilar that the agency hasn’t gone far enough to rectify the litany of problems it is creating.
“I think it is good for what it is, but it’s a real first step, and it shouldn’t have taken two deaths to get here,” she said.
For instance, Fleischaker noted that it is unclear whether ICE agents in Maine were wearing body cameras at the time the shooting occurred. Not only does that create problems with public perception, but it is also against agency policy, she noted. She added that the agents who shot and killed the man in Houston weren’t wearing body cameras, which is a “real problem.”
Fleischaker also noted that the people who were killed by ICE agents were not the targets of the warrants the agents secured.
“It shouldn’t take deaths to make the department be careful about how it does its enforcement,” she said. “Look, I’m glad that they were targeting people, but targeting people doesn’t count for anything if you’re shooting and killing people who aren’t the targets.”
She also said that the information DHS has shared about the two recent killings has been woefully inadequate.
“I don’t know if they failed to confirm who he was when in the Maine shooting, who he was when he left the house,” Fleischaker said. “Maybe there was a real target they were going after. I think that’s part of what we really need to understand more about. But the reality is that they didn’t have to chase him. They didn’t have to shoot him. Fleeing is not an inappropriate [response for] somebody running from people in unmarked cars with no uniforms. It’s not clear he even knew he was running from ICE.”